On the Road
by Japanese Teeth
Summary: After being forced to leave their school, the girls of the School Life Club go on the road to search for a new safe haven. And work through some personal issues while they're at it. This fic is an AU picking up after chapter 30 of the manga. The story concept was suggested by Marston241.
1. Chapter 1

"At the next corner, turn left," Yuuri said as she examined the map.

"You sure?" Kurumi asked. "I'm pretty sure the highway is in the other direction."

"According to the map, it's a right," Yuuri said matter-of-factly.

"Okay, then." Kurumi turned the corner slowly, hoping for an empty street. "Aw, crap."

Most of the width of the narrow street was occupied by a truck. It sat a crazy angle, filling the entirety of one lane and at least half of the other one. In front of it sputtered a broken fire hydrant. In the fading light, she could just barely make out something behind the wheel. She bit her lip and shifted into reverse.

"Do you think we could get around it by driving on the sidewalk?" Yuuri craned her neck, trying to get a better view.

Kurumi shook her head. "I doubt it. There's some of those… uh… you know those pole things that are in front of stores to keep cars from driving to close? There are some of those."

"Oh, I see." She sighed. "I suppose we'll have to try another route then. There should be another turn a few blocks down."

The car was silent as it eased backward.

"I wonder what those things _are_ called," Yuuri said. "Miki, do you know what those are called?"

"Huh?" In the back seat, Miki twitched. She had spent most of the drive staring out the window.

"You know those pillar things on the sidewalks outside stores?" Kurumi said. "To keep cars away? What are those called."

"I don't know," Miki mumbled.

Yuuri looked over the back of her seat. "Are you alright? You've been very quiet."

"I'm fine."

Yuuri gave her a softly incredulous glance. "Really?"

"I was just thinking. You know, about everything that's happened. I still don't know what to think of it all. I need some time to sort it all out in my head."

"Don't we all?" Kurumi mumbled to herself.

"But you are feeling alright?" Yuuri asked again.

"Yeah. As good I can be, given the situation. I'm just tired."

The huddled lump beside Miki made a snorting noise.

"I guess you aren't the only one," Kurumi said, trying to sound cheery. "You think we should wake her up?"

"Let her sleep," Yuuri said. "After everything at the school, we should let her have some peace of mind."

"You think so?" Kurumi said. "It won't be long before we have to find someplace to stop for the night, and it would be better if she sleeps straight through. We don't want her waking up and wandering off to go to the bathroom or something."

"She's already been asleep for a while." Miki finally turned her face away from the window and toward's Yuki's sleeping form. "I doubt it would make any difference at this point. Besides, I think she knows enough to… take care of herself at least a little bit. I think she'd know not to run off somewhere."

"I sure hope not," Kurumi said. "Ugh, this street's totally blocked up, too. Maybe we should give up on trying to get to the highway for today. By the time we actually get onto it, it would be so late we'd have to get right back off."

"Perhaps you're right." Yuuri looked out the window. The sun was low enough that occasionally it was hidden by the taller buildings, and the sky was beginning to change from blue to orange. "We should probably look for someplace to spend the night. It's starting to get dark, and I'd rather not drive at night."

"Yeah, I don't think I'd want to try to drive around in the dark." Kurumi stuck out her tongue. "We don't want to waste gas either."

"How much do we have left?" Miki asked.

"About half a tank. It should last us for another day or two at least."

"The only question is where to stop." Yuuri drummed her fingers on the dashboard. "Somewhere that we could fortify easily would be the best. And we wouldn't want it to be a place that's normally… busy."

"If there are only a few of them we could probably clear things out, but if there are more than that, it would be too dangerous." Kurumi sighed. "I just hope we don't have to sleep in the car. We probably only have like another hour before it'll really be dark." She turned the corner. "Finally, a street that isn't blocked by anything."

"Wait a minute," Miki stared out the window, but this time her mind was actually processing what she was looking at. "I think I know this street!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. My parents work… worked in this area. At a store."

Yuuri thought for a moment. "I don't suppose that it's somewhere where we could spend the night?"

Miki continued to stare out the window for a moment before answering. "Now that I think about it, it might be. It was a store that specialized in camping equipment. You know, tents, sleeping bags, water bottles. That sort of thing. I think they sell some sort of preserved food too."

"That's perfect!" Kurumi exclaimed. "We can stock up on everything we might need!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Yuuri said. "This store, do you know how to get there from here?"

"I think so. It's just down this street."

"Do you think that it'll be safe to stay there?"

Miki nodded. "It should be. There's a second floor and there aren't many doors for… them to get in. It's not part of a mall or anything, so I wouldn't think that there would've been a lot of people around…"

"I see." Yuuri reached back and put her hand on Miki's. "And your parents?"

Miki swallowed. "I don't know. But it's probably our best bet to spend the night. If it comes up… I can deal with it."

" _We_ can deal with it," Kurumi corrected. "It's the School Life Club, right? We'll be with you the the whole time, won't we?"

Yuuri smiled warmly and nodded.

"Mrneh." Yuki wriggled in her seatbelt, doing her best to roll over despite being held in place. She blinked a few times and yawned. "Are we there yet?" she asked.

"We aren't," Yuuri said. "Hopefully we'll arrive soon."

"Where are we going, anyway?" Yuki asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"You're asking if we're there yet and you don't even know where 'there' is?" Kurumi couldn't help but smile as she shook her head. "Why are you even asking, then?"

"Because we've been driving all day! I want to get out of this car and stretch a little. Where are we going, anyway?"

The other three girls were quiet. Then Miki cleared her throat.

"We're going to visit the store where my parents work," she said. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

Yuki grinned happily. "That sounds like fun!"

* * *

"Alright, we're here!" The tires squealed as the car skidded to a stop. Kurumi looked back over her shoulder. "This is the right place, right?"

Miki nodded silently as she stared at the building. A bead of nervous sweat ran down her cheek.

The car's engine shut off. The resulting silence was heavy. Fortunately it only lasted for a few seconds.

"What are you doing!?" Yuki squealed indignantly.

The other three girls all turned to stare at her.

"What is it, Yuki?" Yuuri asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"You can't just stop the car in the middle of the street." Yuki crossed her arms and snorted. "You have to put the car in one of the parking places or you'll totally block up all the traffic."

Kurumi and Miki looked at each other, than to Yuuri. Yuuri shrugged. "We probably should find a parking place."

Kurumi sighed. "Alright, fine." She drove forward a bit, stopping near an open patch of curb.

"But that's a driveway!" Yuki protested.

"It's the store's driveway," Miki said quickly. "It's fine if we park here. If anyone needs to get out, we can move the car."

"Oh, I see." Yuki nodded in understanding. "We get special treatment because your dad works here!"

"I guess you could put it like that," Miki said quietly.

"Kurumi, why don't you and Miki go in and make sure everything's ready for us?" Yuuri said. "We'll just wait here."

"Sounds like a plan," Kurumi said. "We should get inside before it gets too dark. The sun is starting to set."

She slowly and carefully opened the door and stepped into the evening. She stretched. If nothing else, it felt good to be out of the car. The street was quiet and, as far as she could tell, mostly free of anything dangerous. A few shadowy shapes lumbered slowly along down the block, but they were far enough away that they didn't seem to even be aware of the girls' arrival. In a rounadabout way, Yuki had been right. The spot she had parked the car in was near the entrance, but not directly next to anything large enough for an unpleasant surprise to hide behind.

She turned back to the car to retrieve her shovel, and found Miki holding it. More to the point, Miki was standing outside of the car. Through the car's glass she could hear Yuki asking why she needed a shovel to go talk to her dad.

"Thanks." Kurumi reached for the shovel. "This shouldn't take long."

Miki's grip tightened. "I'm coming with you. There's no way I'm letting you go in there by yourself." For a split second, her eyes focused on Kurumi's upper arm. "Besides, if it's my parents' shop…" She bit her lip. "I should go."

"Are… are you really sure you want to?"

"No." She shook her head. "I don't want to. I don't know if my parents are in there. I don't know if I _want_ them to be." Her eyes began to glisten. "But if we're going to go in there… I have to."

She suddenly stomped forward, walking resolutely towards the store's entryway. She moved with such gusto that Kurumi was barely able to catch her as she traipsed past.

"Wait just a second!"

"I said I'm going in!"

"I know that. I'm not going to try to stop you. I just want to tell you something first, okay?"

Miki stopped. Kurumi let go of her arm.

"What is it?"

Kurumi looked oddly pensive for a moment. Miki had never seen the expression and it unnerved her a little. Kurumi took a deep breath, as if she was trying to psyche herself up for something.

"I don't really like to talk about it. Or really even think about it. But I feel like I should at least tell you about this before you find out what's in there. You remember the day that we rescued you from the mall?"

"Of course. How could I forget."

"Well, on the way there, we passed my house."

Miki inhaled sharply. "Did… did you…"

"Yeah, I went in. I can't really say that I even really _decided_ to go in; I just kind of _did_ it. If I had taken a few minutes to think about it, I don't know if I would've. By the time I actually thought about what I might find, it was too late to back out."

She looked away, waiting for her friend to ask the inevitable question. Miki opened her mouth to ask it, but couldn't get the words out.

"They weren't there," Kurumi said. "None of my family were there. I don't know whether they escaped somewhere, or whether… you know. I left a note telling them where we were, but I have no idea if they ever saw it. If they did, they were never able to get to us. I still don't know what happened to them." She sniffed and blinked a few times. "That was probably the worst part. I guess part of me was hoping that I'd at least find out what happened to them. Even if it wasn't good, at least I could know, and I wouldn't have to wonder where they were or if they were safe or anything like that."

"But at least there's a chance that they might be okay." Miki's voice didn't sound nearly as encouraging as she wanted it to.

"I know. Believe me, I don't think there's been a day when I haven't told myself that. And that's why I just wanted to tell you about everything before you go in. I can't say I know _exactly_ how you're feeling right now, but I can take a guess. So I just wanted you to know that whatever we find in there, I'll do whatever I can to help you get through it."

Miki smiled weakly, but genuinely. "Thank you. I always knew that I could rely on you." She held out the shovel. "Here. You can probably use this better than I can."

Kurumi accepted it. "Thanks. You ready to go in?"

She nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be. Let's go."

* * *

Yuki pressed her face against the window of the car. "What's taking them so long? I need to stretch. And use the bathroom!"

"I'm not sure," Yuuri said softly. Her fingers fidgeted with the edge of her skirt. It had been a good five minutes since Kurumi and Miki had vanished into the building. Rationally, she knew that it would probably take them a bit to make sure that it was reasonably secure. Emotionally, she wanted nothing more than to see them emerge, safe and sound. "I'm sure they'll be back soon." She wasn't as sure as she wanted to be.

For a merciful moment, Yuki was quiet.

"Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Yuuri looked back to see if she had really heard the question. It had come out of nowhere, and it was so sincere that it almost didn't even sound like Yuki had asked it.

"I just asked if you were doing okay," Yuki said. "Ever since that fire drill at the school, you looked like you were kinda worried about something."

"It's… It's nothing," Yuuri said with a smile. "It's just all of the things I had to do to get ready for the trip, that's all." Her eyes darted up and down the street. Nothing was moving, which was both good and bad.

"You really do a lot for all of us, don't you?" Yuki poked her head over the top of Yuuri's seat. "Doing all the bookkeeping and keeping track of our food and all the planning and stuff like that."

"Yes, I suppose so. But it's okay. I don't mind helping all of you out, even if it is a bit tough sometimes." She smiled. "I just want to take care of everyone."

"Yeah, I know," Yuki said. "But, you know, you don't have to do everything yourself. It's really great that you want to help all of us so much, but we can help you out too. Megu-nee always told me that there's nothing wrong with asking for help if you need it. We're all in this club together, you know?"

Yuuri kept staring absently out the window. "You're right," she mumbled.

"I don't always know how to help though," Yuki continued, undaunted by Yuuri's lack of enthusiasm. "So if you ever need any help with anything, just let me know! Or at least let Kurumi or Miki know. They'd probably be better at figuring out how to help than I would. I know they'd totally give you a hand."

"They would. It's just that sometimes I feel like they have enough to worry about without having to help me."

"But you have enough to worry about without having to take care of _us._ I bet if we all helped each other out with everything we'd all have less to worry about."

"I suppose." Yuuri smiled, finally turning to look at Yuki with a mischievous glint in her eye.. "So you want to take care of dinner tonight then? I've been doing a lot of cooking lately."

"Um, maybe not _that_. I bet Miki could make something really yummy, though! Don't you think?"

"I'm not sure," Yuuri said. "She hasn't cooked much since she joined the club."

"Here she comes! Maybe you could ask her!"

"Huh?" Yuuri turned back to the window. She sighed in relief as she saw Kurumi and Yuuri heading towards the car, looking none the worse for wear. "Oh, thank goodness." She rolled down the window. "I'm glad to see you back. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything seems to be fine," Kurumi said. "At least on the first floor. There were a two or three of them wandering around in the courtyard behind the store, but we locked and barricaded the door, so it should be safe. Most of the lights don't seem to be working, but the emergency lights are on, so at least we'll be able to see well enough."

Yuki rolled down her own window. "Can we go in now? I'm really stiff and I have to go to the bathroom!"

Miki nodded. "Yes, we can go in now. We'll be staying in the old break room. Just remember that this is a store, so we have to be careful not to make a mess, okay? Kurumi, can you show her where we'll be staying?"

Kurumi saluted with her shovel. "Sure thing!"

"Okay!" Yuki flung the door open and started towards the door. Kurumi followed her closely.

"Um, Miki…" Yuuri said as she got out of the car. "I have a question…"

"I didn't find anything about my parents," Miki said flatly. "I'm still not sure how to feel about it. But we only looked through part of the area, so we still might find something."

"I see." She cleared her throat. "Thank you for letting us stay here."

"Don't worry about it. We needed somewhere to stay, and this is as good a place as any." Miki sniffed, and Yuuri could tell she was holding back tears. "Besides, maybe if we look around tomorrow, we'll find something."

"Maybe, but tomorrow is tomorrow." Yuuri put her hand on Miki's shoulder. "For now we need to rest. It's been a long day."

"Yes, it has. We should probably get inside."

Yuuri nodded, and the two of them followed Kurumi and Yuki towards the door.

"Oh." Yuuri said.

"What is it?" Miki asked.

"I, uh, I just thought of another question."

"What is it?"

"Did you check to see if the bathrooms still _work_?"

Miki blinked a few times as the question sunk in. Then she chuckled. "I sure hope so."


	2. Chapter 2

The inside of the shop was oddly clean, considering the situation. It was, of course, in disarray, but of a very mundane sort. Various displayed had been knocked over and there was a layer of dust over everything, but the windows were all intact, and bloodstains were surprisingly few and far between. It wasn't a large place, at least not on the first floor. There was a counter at the front, and several tight aisles. The fading light from the storefront windows cast steadily growing shadows along the walls.

The girls carefully made their way towards the back of the store. There were two doors against the back wall, one that appeared to lead up the stairs to the next floor, and another labelled "Employees only." They headed for the second door.

"I think we should set up camp in here," Kurumi said as she pushed the door open. "The break room and bathroom are back here."

Yuuri nodded as she glanced around the dark room. "And it's safe?"

"All the doors lock," Kurumi said.

"I see."

Miki flipped the light switch. Nothing happened. "Unfortunately, it looks like the electricity is out. We should be able to find a lantern or something though. The bathroom is over here." She opened the door and tried the faucet. To her relief, water began to flow. "Looks like we have running water, at least. Yuki, did you need to-"

"Yes!" Yuki pushed past her into the bathroom and slammed the door.

"Well, at least we won't need to worry about _that_ ," Kurumi said, shaking her head. "We blocked off all the doors in from the back, so the only way anything could get in is through the front. If we block that off, I doubt we'll have any trouble. There don't seem to be very many of them around here. We should probably get anything we need out of the car before it gets any darker."

"That would be a good idea." Yuuri nodded. "Especially the flashlights."

Miki thought for a moment. "I know this store has lanterns in stock somewhere. Why don't you try to find one while Kurumi and I unload the car?"

"Sure."

"Okay, let's get a move on, then!" Kurumi slung her shovel over her shoulder and headed for the door.

Miki cleared her throat. "Um, before that, there's one more thing…"

"Yeah?" Kurumi stopped. "What is it?"

"Well," Miki dropped her voice to a whisper. "There's something I want to talk to the two of you about later. It's about Yuki."

"Perhaps we can talk about that after she goes to sleep," Yuuri said. "She's always been a sound sleeper."

"Alright." Miki nodded. "Now then, let's get that car unpacked."

"Yeah," Kurumi said. "Let's."

* * *

Kurumi rattled the front doors. "Yeah, I think that'll hold." She hadn't been able to find the key for the door itself, but luckily the shop had bicycle chains in stock. "If anything tries to get through, we'll definitely be able to hear it. "If we close all the curtains, they probably won't even know we're here."

"Hey, Kurumi! Look!" Kurumi turned around to see Yuki standing behind her. She was wearing a floppy, oversized bucket hat and an enormous backpack that seemed to be made entirely out of pockets. "I'm a camel!" She fumbled with a tube protruding from one of the shoulder straps and popped it into her mouth. "Bleh. It's warm."

Kurumi shook her head. "Weren't you supposed to be helping Yuuri with the lanterns?"

"Already did that!" Yuki said proudly. "That was what I was actually going to show you. Look!"

She gestured excitedly at the shelves. At the end of each aisle, a globe of softly glowing light hung in the air. "Doesn't it look pretty?"

"It does look pretty cool." Kurumi took a closer look. At first, it appeared that she was looking at a simple ball of light. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she could see that it was some sort of outdoor lighting apparatus hanging from a pole duct taped to the shelf.

"Rii-san and Mii-kun thought so too!" Yuki said happily. "At first we were going to use lanterns, but I think these look way nicer."

"Well, I think they look great," Kurumi said. "Where's everybody else?"

"They're setting up camp in the storage room!"

"Setting up… camp?"

"Yeah!" Yuki nodded enthusiastically. "We thought that since it's like an outdoor shop, it would be fun to pretend that we're camping!"

"Camping, huh? I haven't been camping since… that one night when we set up the tent in the club room."

"Yeah. Mii-kun wasn't with us for that, though. So I thought we could do it with her now."

Kurumi smiled. "I'm sure she'll appreciate that." She glanced over the door and windows one more time. She had double-checked already, but it never hurt to be sure. The windows were barred and curtained, and the door was shut tight. For tonight, at least, they would be safe. "Why don't we go see how they're doing with setting up the campsite?"

"Let's go!" Yuki grabbed Kurumi's hand and began to tow her along. "You're gonna love it!"

* * *

The back room was lit with more glowing orbs. Most of the contents of the had been shoved off into a corner. Replacing the original furniture were four foldable outdoor chairs, arranged in a circle around a small camp stove. Beside the makeshift campfire site was something that looked like a very large deflated beach ball. It was wriggling.

Kurumi stared at it. "Uh…"

Yuuri's head popped out from between the folds. "Sorry, we seem to be having a little bit of trouble getting the tent up. It's a bit more complex than the one we used in the club room."

Miki's head emerged next to Yuuri's. "I think that one pole needs to in the other side. It's not long enough to go all the way across." She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't think it would be so much trouble to get this set up. I didn't have any problems last time I put up a tent."

"Neither did we," Kurumi said, gingerly lifting up the corner of the tent to let Yuuri and Miki crawl out.

"It's not that hard," Yuki grumbled. "Seriously, it's just a tent!" She shoved past the other girls and clamored inside. The material began to wobble, and within minutes it was actually starting to resemble a tent. "Hey Mii-kun! Get in here and help me! This tent is too big for one person!"

"Um," Miki looked at Yuuri and Kurumi. Kurumi shrugged. "You'd better go help her. She is your senpai after all."

Miki wrinkled her nose, but crawled back into the tent. Yuuri smiled. "I think she's having a good time."

"Which one of them?"

"Both."

* * *

Kurumi and Yuuri sat in two of the foldable chairs, watching Yuki and Miki's shadows move around the inside of the tent as they finished furnishing it.

"Do you think Miki will be alright?" Yuuri asked, her voice low. "I remember that you were a bit shaken up after you visited your house. This has got to be incredibly hard for her. Coming back here…"

"I think she's strong enough to handle it," Kurumi said. "But you're right, it won't be easy. It still comes back to me. You know, thinking about what my home was like. I'm still not sure whether going in was the best thing to do or not. At least it means that now she won't have to go through this alone."

"That's right. You've been through something similar."

"I wasn't talking about me." She nodded at the tent, where Yuki and Miki were having an argument about the best way to arrange the sleeping bags. "I mean, yeah, I guess I can understand her feelings more, but it's more than that. I didn't have to go through it alone either. I had you two."

"But we hadn't gone through anything like what you have. You didn't even want to talk to us about it."

"I know. It's still not something I really want to talk about. But just knowing that you were there if I ever did need to… that was enough, I guess. And it helped that we had just picked Miki up, so there was so much going on that it was a while before I really had time for everything to sink in."

"I see." Yuuri nodded. "If you ever do want to talk about it, I'll listen."

"I'll keep that in mind." Kurumi turned her attention back to the tent. "Honestly, I think that's probably helping her more than anything else." The tent was wobbling as they attempted to keep it from collapsing in on itself. "I doubt she's thinking about any of that stuff right now. Just for a few minutes at least, she'll get to feel like things are normal."

Yuuri thought for a moment. "I'm not even sure what normal is, anymore."

Kurumi shrugged. "That's why it's so important to feel like it is. It may not be normal normal, but just getting to live for a few minutes without having to worry about things… I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have those moments. I think that's what keeps us all going."

Yuki poked her head out of the tent. "Done! Who wants to make s'mores?"

* * *

"You know," Yuuri said, "we really should eat at least some real food."

"S'mores are real food," Kurumi said crossly. She eyed the marshmallow that she held out over the camp stove. Both she and Yuki had made an impassioned argument for using something with a larger flame, but Yuuri and Miki had shot the idea down, citing safety concerns. "Or at least they would be if we had a real fire."

Miki rolled her eyes. "You don't need flames to toast a marshmallow. You're supposed to hold it down by the coals where the heat is. If you get it in the flames it'll just-"

"Ahhh! No!" Yuki waggled the end of her marshmallow skewer, blowing furiously at the ball of flames. The end result resembled a charcoal briquette more than a marshmallow. "Not again."

"I told you, you don't have to hold it in the flames," Miki said. "It's a good thing we have plenty of marshmallows."

"And chocolate!" Yuki added.

"Yes." Yuuri smiled. "You always have to have chocolate."

* * *

"Cold showers are the worst," Kurumi grumbled as she emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in three different blankets. "We really had it good at the school."

"Just be glad we have one," Yuuri said. Both she and Miki were bundled up similarly, hunching over the stove. "If we were really camping we wouldn't have any shower."

"Where's Yuki?" Kurumi asked as she joined them, trying to absorb some of the meager amount of heat the burner generated.

"In the tent," Miki answered. "I guess she tired herself out from running around so much."

Kurumi smiled as she shivered. "And she's usually the one who hates to go to bed."

"A lot has happened over the past few days," Yuuri said. "Maybe she has the right idea."

"Yeah." Kurumi was silent as she watched the tiny flames.

Her eyes darted over to Miki. She was almost curled up in a ball, staring into the fire in the same way. Kurumi wanted to ask how she was doing. If she did, the answer would probably be "fine", even though it obviously wasn't, and hadn't been for a long time. She looked like she was handling herself well enough given the circumstances, but who could tell, really? It wasn't like any of them really wore their hearts on their sleeves. They all seemed to be in unspoken agreement that if they were too honest about how they really felt, what little emotional stability they had left would evaporate.

But she had a good idea of what was going through her friend's head. There would be apprehension, confusion, fear of what she might find there… If anything it would be worse for her. Kurumi hadn't spent long in her home. Having to stay there… she couldn't imagine what that would've done to her head. Then again, the last thing she wanted was to bring that up. Miki probably wouldn't want to talk about it.

"Miki…" Yuuri had spoken up. "You said before that there was something you wanted to talk about. About Yuki…"

"Oh, right. That." Kurumi breathed a sigh of relief as curiosity replaced her apprehension. "Are you sure she's asleep?"

Yuuri nodded. "We should probably try to keep it down, though. It's not anything serious, is it?"

"I don't think so," Miki whispered. "To be honest, I don't know. It might be nothing. Remember after that fire, when we were cleaning up all of the classrooms?"

Kurumi nodded. It had been the first time in her life that she had actually enjoyed cleaning, if only because it was a respite from everything else that had preceded it.

"Well, Yuki had gone to one of the classrooms to clean, and I was in one of the classrooms by the club area. Then I heard something. I looked down the hallway, and she was running to the club room, and she was crying."

"What?!" Yuuri gasped, forgetting for a moment to keep quiet. Then she remembered and began to whisper. "What happened? Why didn't you tell us about it?"

"I'm not sure what happened," Miki answered. "She grabbed me and just… cried. She never told me why. After a few minutes she stopped and said she was feeling better. She started to help me clear out the club room. I didn't want to push her too hard, so I didn't say anything else about it. Then I found that graduation album and we ended up getting distracted. At the time there was so much else on my mind that I just figured that the stress of the fire had gotten to her and she needed to get it out. But the more I thought about it, things just didn't add up."

"What do you mean?" Yuuri asked, her face very serious.

"Well, at first, I thought that she didn't look just sad. She looked scared, like she was afraid of something. I didn't think much of it at first because I'd never seen her cry before, or that maybe she was just scared of the fire or something. I didn't realize that there was anything odd going on until later. I don't remember exactly when it was; maybe later that day. I noticed that her shoes were dirty."

"So?" Kurumi said. "There was a massive fire. We were all really dirty."

"It wasn't just soot or smoke though. It looked… it looked like blood."

"Blood!?"

"Yes. And I don't think it was there before she went upstairs to clean out the classroom."

"So you think she might've ran into one of them?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I don't know how else to explain it." Miki pulled her blanket tighter. "And the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. Like when I asked her where she left the mop that she had been using, she was just silent and stared at me. I almost thought she was going to start crying again."

"But how could that've happened?" Yuuri asked. "If she did, wouldn't she be, you know…"

"If she were infected we'd know." Kurumi put a hand to her still-bandaged shoulder. "Trust me. She's fine."

"And where would it have come from?"

Kurumi thought for a moment. "The first might've damaged one of the barriers. A small one might've been able to squeeze through a gap that the others couldn't get through. It would be unlikely, but not impossible."

"So if she came across one…" Yuuri paused.

"What would happen?" Miki asked. "Obviously she didn't get infected. But most of the time she doesn't even really notice them."

"It's not quite that she doesn't notice them," Yuuri said. "It's more complicated than that. Yuki's… way of looking at things is a bit odd. She doesn't just ignore how everything is changed. If she did, we could never let her out of our sight. It's more that she seems to be aware of things on some level, but her mind comes up with a more normal explanation. One time she was going to go close a window. It was broken, and I was afraid she was going to cut herself, but she mumbled something to herself about a classmate who had just cleaned it and she had to be careful about not getting it dirty. So she was careful not to touch the glass."

"Yeah," Kurumi added. "Or back before you came, one night we went to the school library. One of them got in there, and Yuki knew to be quiet and hide so it wouldn't notice her. After we got back, she said that Megu-nee had told her to be quiet so that she wouldn't get in trouble."

"That still doesn't explain why her shoes were bloody, though," Miki said.

"Unless she was forced to fight back," Yuuri said.

"But could she do that?" Miki said, shocked.

"I think it's possible," Yuuri's brow furrowed as she thought. "If we're right about how her delusions work, at least. Maybe coming face to face with one of them could've forced her to face the reality of the situation. She couldn't come up with a 'normal' explanation for it."

"And then her survival instinct kicked in," Kurumi suggested.

"But her fighting one of them…" Miki mumbled. "Could she have even managed to do that?"

"Maybe?" Kurumi shrugged. "If the it was already damaged by the fire and Yuki had a mop, she could probably at least knock it over before running away. And if she closed the door behind her, it would be stuck and we'd never see it."

Miki nodded. "I guess that makes sense." She hugged her knees to her chest. "I just wish I would've known what happened to her."

"There's no way any of us could've known," Yuuri said softly. "I'm surprised you even noticed what you did."

"Besides, it's not like we know that's what happened," Kurumi added. "It could totally be something else."

"But if it is…" Miki said.

"If it is, Yuki's doing fine right now." Kurumi gestured toward the tent, where Yuki could be heard snoring lightly. "Or at least she's doing as well as she was doing before whatever happened up there."

"Yes, but how long do you think she'll be able to stay that way?" Yuuri asked. "She can't keep it up forever. And if something like that happens again…"

"Yuki is stronger than we think," Kurumi said. She stared blankly ahead, as if she were deep in thought. "If anything, I think she might be improving."

"Really?"

"Think about it. Do you remember what she was like when this all started? When she first cracked, it was like she was completely out of it. It's why we had to create all of those 'club rules'."

"That's true…" Yuuri said. "It was a day or two before she could really function on her own. But do you really think that she's getting better?"

"Well, something's definitely different about her." Kurumi adjusted the towel on her head. "I don't know whether it's her mind starting to come back together or what, but ever since the whole fire incident, something's been a bit different."

Miki nodded in assent. "Yes. That's another thing I thought of. When we found the two of you after the fire… when we reached the shelter Yuki was just about to leave to look for us."

"She was?!" Yuuri gasped.

"Yeah, she had a bat with her," Kurumi said. "Which is weird, now that I think about it. Why would she bring a bat if she only thought that there was a fire?"

"It must be starting to get through to her," Miki mumbled.

"Or maybe she's starting to get through it," Yuuri said. "She might not want to think about it, but when push comes to shove she always manage to come through. She is stronger than she looks, after all."

"But what does it mean for-" Miki was cut off by the sound of the tent flap unzipping. Yuki's head poked out. She glared at them grumpily from under a mop of disheveled hair.

"Are you guys going to come to bed or no. You made a big deal about me getting my sleep and then you're all sitting out here chatting without me!"

"We were just coming to bed," Yuuri said as she bent down to shut off the flames. "It is getting late, after all."

Kurumi yawned. "Yeah. It's too late to be talking about this stuff anyway. Let's get some sleep."


	3. Chapter 3

Miki woke up so slowly that she wasn't even sure whether she was awake or not. Apparently, she had been too tired to dream. She appreciated that. There were many things on her mind that she could've dreamed up, and very few of them were things she wanted to dream about.

The inside of the tent was warm. With the way the weather had been sliding more and more towards chilly, she had thought it would've been cold. Mornings usually were. And this one probably would be, once she was out from under her blanket. She tried to sit up. She couldn't. Something was holding her down.

"Huh?"

She craned her head forward and squinted, trying to use the dim light to see what was on top of her and found Kurumi's arm thrown across her chest. Kurumi's hand brushed her arm. That wasn't where the warmth was coming from. Kurumi's skin was cool, as if she had just come inside on a cold day. Miki chewed on her lip. She wasn't the only one with things to worry about. Who knew what Kurumi was dreaming about?

Kurumi shivered and curled up closer, as if she were desperate to warm herself up. Miki sighed, took the corner of the blanket, and gently spread it over both of them. There was no need to get up yet.

* * *

"Don't we have any sugar to put in there?" Yuki wrinkled her nose as she watched Yuuri stir. "You can't have oatmeal without putting something _in_ it!"

"Do you have any sugar?" Yuuri asked, without looking up.

"Well, no."

"Then unfortunately, you'll have to eat the oatmeal plain," Yuuri answered with a sigh. "I know, I'm not exactly a fan of it, but it's what we have at the moment."

"Actually, we won't have to do that." Miki pushed the door open and walked in with a small pile of bags in her hands. She dumped them on the table. "This store sells trail mix, and some of them have dried fruit. It's not really _sugar_ , but it's better than nothing."

"Thank goodness," Kurumi said. "Oatmeal is so _boring_ on its own."

"Hmmm," Yuuri examined the pile of bags. "Miki, what kind of food does this store stock?"

"Mostly stuff like this." She sat at the table and began to sort through them. "Dried fruit, granola, beef jerky. Snacks for hiking, mostly. There are some freeze dried meals, too, but most people think they're pretty disgusting. They last practically forever, though."

Kurumi tore one of the fruit bags open and sniffed it. "We should probably grab some anyway. I mean, who knows when we'll be able to get more food?"

Miki nodded. "There's all types of survival gear that we might need. Once we're done with breakfast, we should go through the store and see what we can find."

"Sounds good," Kurumi said. She sniffed at her bowl of oatmeal and added another handful of fruit. "We could probably use some new sleeping bags. Maybe ones _without_ legs."

"I don't think we have any legged sleeping bags," Miki said. She glanced curiously at the tent, where one of said sleeping bags hung halfway out of the door. "Where did you guys get those anyway?"

"I found them at school," Yuki said, her mouth full of oatmeal. "I'm not sure why they had them though."

Yuuri nodded thoughtfully as she scribbled something else onto her list of things that needed to be done. The list never seemed to get shorter. "Is there anything else that we need to take care of while we're here?"

"Well…" Miki's lowered her voice. "After we go shopping, I was going to look around to see if I can find anything out anything about my parents."

"Okay," Kurumi said. "Whenever you're ready to start looking, just let us know, and we'll be right there with you.

"More oatmeal please!" Yuki held out an empty bowl. The other three girls stared at her in disbelief. "What? I was hungry."

* * *

"Mii-kun! You've got to see this!" Yuki's voice squeaked with excitement.

"What is it?" Miki didn't have to try to conceal her enthusiasm, because she didn't have much. Under different circumstances it would've been fun to have the run of the whole store, but at the moment all it did for her was dredge up memories of better times. She turned the corner into the aisle to see Yuki gesturing excitedly at a wall of shovels.

"Look at how many different kinds there are! This one folds up!" She pointed. "And this one has a jagged edge for cutting stuff. And there's a compass in the handle. Isn't that cool?"

"I suppose so," Miki answered. Then she mumbled to herself. "We should probably take a compass along. Several, actually."

"This one extends!" Yuki said, holding it out. "I bet Kurumi could use one like this. It would give her a longer reach."

"That's a good idea," Miki said. "Why don't you go show her and see what she thinks? I think she probably prefers her usual shovel, but I think it would be good for her to have a backup."

"Yeah, that's a good idea!" Yuki scrambled off, carrying three or four shovels in her arms.

Miki turned her attention back to the shelves. She had always known that there were shovels, but she had never really paid much attention to them. _Wait a second. A longer reach? Why would she mention that_ …?

* * *

"Hmmmm. Barbequed beef or cheesy chicken?" Yuuri held up two vacuum-packed bags. The labels indicated that they would remain edible for at least a year. Probably more. Neither one looked particularly appetizing, but at least it would last.

The break room door creaked as Miki walked through, holding a shopping basket piled with stuff.

"Which of these flavors do you think is better?" Yuuri asked.

"They're both pretty awful," Miki said with a shrug. "The beef one is probably a little less terrible. I don't think cheese freeze dries very well."

"I see," Yuuri wrinkled her nose at the package. "In that case I'll pack more of the beef ones. I'll have a few of the other ones in here for variety though. Hopefully we'll never get to the point that we need to actually eat them. If we figure three bags a day for the four of us, I'd say one box of them would last us for about a month."

Miki stuck out her tongue. "I wouldn't want to have to eat those for a month."

"Neither would I, but we might have to." Yuuri glanced at Miki's basket. "What's all that?"

"Just a few things I thought we might need." She began to unload the basket onto the table. "Here's a water pump with a few filters. There are a few germicidal tablets. If we can't find running water, between those it should purify it enough to be drinkable. There's a funnel for catching rainwater too."

"I see." Yuuri nodded. "I guess it's important that we have water too. What else do you have in there?"

"Some vitamin supplements. You know, in case those nasty meal packets aren't nutritious enough. There's a first aid kit, for obvious reasons. A compass, just in case. Firestarter kit, for if we need to cook stuff. There's even a sunshower."

"A sunshower?"

"It's sort of like a water bag that you can fill and leave out in the sun to warm up. It's used for showering in places without running water. It's a bit of a luxury, but I think it's worth it. Besides, it's good for storing water."

Yuuri examined the pile of resources that Miki had presented. She hoped that she would've come up with similar preparations if Miki hadn't beaten her to it.

"You really have everything figured out, don't you?" she said.

"I wouldn't say _everything_ …" Miki mumbled. "I just thought it might be helpful."

"Well, it is," Yuuri said. "And I'm grateful for it. I don't what I'd do if I didn't have the rest of you." She stared silently the supplies for a moment. "Could I ask you a question?"

"I… of course."

"When we found you in the mall… how did you keep yourself going?"

"I'm not sure, really," Miki said softly. "I'm not even sure that I did. I just tried not to think about it, tried to keep myself occupied. I wasn't really living so much as just… I don't know… just existing, I guess." She sighed. "I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to get _out_ of that mindset when you brought me back to the school. At first, it just felt like a change of scenery. I can't believe it took me so long to _want_ to actually start living again."

"It's a good thing we found you," Yuuri said. "Not just for your sake, but for ours."

"What? What did I do? You saved me! And when I first met Yuki, I… well, you know."

"You reminded us that the world was bigger than just the school. That there might be something more for us than just staying there forever. You're even more helpful _now_ , of course."

Miki grinned. "Thanks. I guess this just means we have to stick together, right?"

"Right."

* * *

"Kurumi, I really don't think we need one of these." Miki folded her arms.

"Oh, come on. It's not like it would take up that much space!"

"I'm afraid Miki is right," Yuuri said. "We have very limited space for packing, and we ought to save it for necessities."

Kurumi thought for a moment. "We could… tie it to the top of the car!"

"That would be a good way of bringing additional supplies," Miki admitted. "But it really is a bit too big to bring along, especially since it wouldn't really be very helpful."

"Not helpful!" Kurumi said indignantly. "We could use it to get more food! Or send messages out!"

Yuuri scratched her head. "I don't think it would be quite that useful. I doubt any food we got from it would be safe to eat. And as far as messages go, I think it would be extremely unlikely that anyone would get them if we send them out using that… particular method."

Kurumi sighed. "Fine. But once we've packed all of the important stuff I'm going to double check to see if there's any space left." She turned back to the row of boxes that lined the shelf. Each one read _Humane Capture Bird Trap_. "I'll be back for you."

* * *

"So there isn't _any_ manga here?"

"No. It's a camping store." Miki stared at Yuki, unsure whether she was being serious or simply trying to make some sort of incomprehensible joke. "Why would it sell manga?"

Yuki shrugged. "I dunno. Like maybe if some family was going to go camping and they wanted to buy something to read."

"We're in the middle of the city. People come here to buy equipment here ahead of time. They probably wouldn't be dropping by on their way to the campsite." Miki shook her head. "If they wanted manga, they'd go to a bookstore."

Yuki scowled. "So there isn't anything? Not even like a camping manual or something that they wrote as a comic?"

"I don't think so."

"Fine." Yuki sighed with a sound like a deflating balloon. "I guess I'll just have to draw my own, then! Does this place sell any drawing stuff? I didn't think to bring any from school."

Miki just shook her head.

* * *

Yuuri perused the shelves, a shopping basket dangling from her arm. If not for the decay visible through the window behind her, the scene would've been almost normal. She looked almost as if she were about to pull a coupon out of her pocket. She plucked a box off of a shelf and examined it for a moment before putting it in the basket.

"So is this going to be a thing with you?"

"Huh?" Yuuri glanced back over her shoulder. "What do you mean?"

"Picking up something that makes noise." Kurumi picked up the box. It contained an electric rescue siren. "Last time it was that keychain thing."

"Well, it worked last time, didn't it?" Yuuri asked. "If we're even in another situation like that, it would be good to have something to distract them with. Miki might not be here if we hadn't had those keychains."

"Yeah." Kurumi shivered at the thought. "Although that gets me thinking…"

"About what?"

"Do you think we'll find any other survivors? I mean, we sure weren't expecting to find anybody else at the mall."

"It's always possible, I guess," Yuuri said. "Just think about it. What are the chances that out of everyone in Japan, _we're_ the only ones who managed to survive. There must be someone else out there."

"Yeah, but what are the chances of us finding any of them?"

"I have no idea. It was almost pure luck that we found Miki. Who knows? Maybe we'll find someone else. It might be sooner than we think."

"I guess," Kurumi said dejectedly. "Or maybe someone will find _us_. Get us out of all this."

"I… I don't think that's…"

"I know, it's a long shot. But as long as it's at least a little bit possible, I'm going to hold onto that hope." She turned away. "Let's get back to packing. Is there anything else we need?"

"Hmmm." Yuuri smiled. "How about a megaphone?"

Kurumi couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't think we'll need one of those."

* * *

"Nothing upstairs, then?" Yuuri asked as Kurumi and Miki entered the breakroom.

"Well, nothing particularly interesting," Kurumi said. "Mostly clothes."

"So no sign of anyone else?"

Miki shook her head. "No. I didn't really think that their would be. If the people who worked here would try to barricade the shop, they'd do it on the ground level so they'd have access to everything." She sighed. "I'm not sure whether to be upset or relieved."

"I know that feeling," Kurumi said as she patted Miki on the back. "It's rough. For now let's just try to keep ourselves occupied, okay?"

Miki nodded. "Yes. I'm sure there are plenty of things upstairs that we could use. I am starting to get a bit tired of wearing my school uniform all the time."

"Not to mention that Winter is coming up," Yuuri added. "We could definitely use some heavier clothes."

"Why don't you and Yuki go up there and start picking some stuff out?" Kurumi suggested. "We'll go check out the basement."

"I suppose that would work." Yuuri stood and knocked on the bathroom door. "Yuki, when you come out do you want to go upstairs and help me pick out some winter clothes?"

"Are there hats?" said Yuki's voice.

"I'm sure there are."

The door swung open. "Sure! Let's go! I could use a new hat."

"Alright then. Just wash your hands first."

* * *

The basement door creaked as Kurumi opened it. The air was musty and thick, much like one would expect from any basement. It was darker than either of their previous explorations; there were no windows, and the only light came from a single emergency bulb hanging from the wall. It was cramped, too. Most of the space was lined with metal shelves filled with boxes. The only bit of wall that wasn't was filled by an old metal desk, piled high with paperwork.

The two girls moved forward cautiously, hanging the lights on the edges of the shelves as they went. The shadows on the wall ended up making the place look even more ominous than it had to begin with. Kurumi tightened her grip on her shovel.

"Have you been down here before?" she asked.

"A few times," Miki answered, her voice low. "Not very often. There wasn't much reason to come down here."

"You think there's anything in the boxes we could use?"

"Probably not. It's mostly just extra stock of what's already in the store. There might be a few new things, but I don't think there would be anything-"

Both girls froze. The basement had been silent aside from their voices and footsteps. But there had been a sound that was neither of those. And it can come from the other end of the room.

Kurumi swallowed. "Did you hear that?"

There was another sound; a dull thumping.

Miki nodded wordlessly.

"I'll go first," Kurumi whispered. The shovel was already in her hands. She slowly approached the noise, hoping that it wouldn't be what she thought it was. She turned a corner around one of the shelves and sighed in relief.

"What is it?" Miki asked cautiously. "Is it…"

"It probably is, but it's stuck in here." Kurumi rapped her knuckles on a door labelled "Supply closet". The door was metal. From behind it, slow thumps and a groan could be heard. "It's not going to be able to get out on its own."

"That's good," Miki said quietly, not sure how to feel about the news. Sure, it was good that they were still safe, but the sheer fact that one of those _things_ had made its way inside a place that she remembered so fondly… "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?"

"That." Miki pointed to the door. A folded-over piece of paper was taped to it.

"I'm not sure." Kurumi peeled it from the door, unfolded it, and began to read. Her eyes widened. "Let's go back upstairs," she said quickly.

"What does it say?" Miki asked.

"I'll tell you in a minute," Kurumi folded the note up and stuffed it in her pocket. "But first we should go get the others."

"Why?"

Kurumi fumbled for words for a moment. "It's about your family."


	4. Chapter 4

Yuuri, Kurumi, and Miki sat silently at the table. Yuuri and Miki were next to each other. Miki's head hung limply, as if she were intently staring at her shoes. Yuuri's arm was around her shoulder.

Across from them, Kurumi sat staring at the note that now lay open on the table, reading it slowly.

 _Don't open this door._

 _I couldn't bear to see my wife as one of them. I put her to rest, but I was infected. I've locked myself in so that when I turn, I won't be a danger to anyone else._

 _My journal is in the top drawer of the desk by the stairs. Maybe it can help someone._

 _I'm sorry._

Kurumi slowly turned the paper so that Yuuri could read it for herself.

"Are… are you sure that your dad wrote this?" Yuuri asked softly. "Isn't it possible it could've been one of his co-workers?"

Miki shook her head. "It's… it's his handwriting. There were times he wasn't home much because of work, so he would… he'd leave notes for me around the house…" She sniffed.

"I'm… I'm sorry." Yuuri hugged her.

Kurumi continued to stare at the note. She had already given her condolences. Before they were even out of the basement, Miki knew that whatever news the note contained, it wasn't good. She didn't know what else to say. At the moment, there wasn't anything _to_ say. No words would mean anything, not now. She wanted to go over to the other side of the table and join in consoling her, but she couldn't.

Part of her didn't want to overwhelm Miki. She couldn't say that she had any idea what it would feel like to learn that her parents fall victim to such a thing, but she had a vague idea that having everyone gather around her and say how sorry they were would only make it worse. One person doing that would be comforting. Having everyone do it… she didn't know quite the right word for it, but it wouldn't have been comfortable.

A smaller part of her tried to be practical. Someone had to keep an eye out for Yuki, to make sure she wouldn't burst in at the wrong time. They would have to try to explain things to her, obviously. But how could they go about that? If Miki was right, Yuki was at least vaguely aware of things. Should they just sit her down and explain things? Or was it too soon for that? They didn't want to make her _worse_ …

She wrung her hands and shivered. That was the other reason she couldn't give Miki a hug.

For now, all they could do was be quiet, and wait for Miki sort out her feelings.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Kurumi asked. As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized it was a stupid question. There was no doubt how Miki was feeling. She had only asked for the sake of breaking the silence. Yuuri had gone upstairs to attempt to somehow tell Yuki what was going on. Kurumi had no clue how she was going to manage _that_.

"I don't know."

"Huh?" Kurumi looked up. At best, she had been hoping for a simple "Terrible", but had fully expected a harsh "How do you _think_ I feel?" She hadn't expected the answer she received to come so softly.

"I don't know how I feel," Miki mumbled, just barely loud enough for Kurumi to hear. "When we got here, I knew I would probably find something like this. Even before that, I knew it was incredibly unlikely that they survived. I already almost knew they were gone. But… but now that I really know…" She buried her face in her hands and just barely choked out a few more words. "I… just wish I could've seen them again… just one last time…"

She sniffed loudly and took a deep breath, as if she were trying to suck her tears back in through sheer force of will. Miki finally looked up. Her eyes were red, but dry. She took a moment to straighten her hair and clothes, doing her best to look like she usually did. It didn't quite work, but it was an admirable effort.

"I'm sorry," she said. Her voice was scratchy.

"You don't have to be sorry about anything," Kurumi said. "If anybody should be sorry, it's me. I wish I could do something." She looked down at her hands. "But I don't know what. If there was anything at all I could do to help… Or even something I could say…"

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." She wrung her hands. "I just need some time."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. Like I said, it's just… now I know what happened to them. There's no more uncertainty. No more wondering about whether they're out there or what happened. It's… it's not what I wanted, but at least I know…" She was silent for a few seconds. "I still don't know how to feel about that."

"Yeah," Kurumi mumbled, not sure what else to say.

The room was silent again. Kurumi tried not to stare. She needed to _do_ something. Just sitting here, awkwardly… if she were in Miki's place, she didn't think she'd want someone else sitting right there, waiting for her. She'd probably want some time to herself. Maybe she should get up and go check on how the other two were doing. But she didn't want to just leave Miki sitting there all by herself…

She was just about to open her mouth to ask when she heard footsteps outside the door.

The door slammed open and Yuki burst through. By the look on her face, one would've thought that she was the one who got the bad news.

"Mii-kun! I'm so sorry!" She rushed forward and before anyone could stop her she had captured Miki in a bear hug.

"Y-yuki…" Miki choked out. The hug had been so sudden that for a second it had knocked all of the conflicting feelings out of her, leaving only surprise. "W-what are you doing?"

"I'm hugging you," Yuki said matter-of-factly. "You need it."

"Yuki, I'm fine." Miki tried to wriggle free, but Yuki clung on.

"Are you, really?" Yuki sniffed. "I know that when something bad happens, you really, really want to pretend that you're fine and act like nothing's wrong…" She paused and sniffed, as if she were trying to hold back tears of her own. "But sometimes… it's okay if you can't. Sometimes it's better to just let it out."

"But...I…"

"You don't have to talk if you don't want to," Yuki said.

Miki didn't. She just buried her face in Yuki's shoulder.

* * *

Kurumi followed Yuuri out of the breakroom. As the door closed behind her, she gasped as if she hadn't been able to breathe.

"Ugh, it's so _tense_ in there…" she mumbled. She leaned against the wall and slumped down into a sitting position. "I wish there was something I could do to _help_. This isn't a problem I can just pound into submission. I just feel so… useless. I can't think of anything to say to her that wouldn't just make things worse."

Yuuri sighed and took a seat next to Kurumi. "I don't know either. I would give anything to know what to do. But situations like this… I think what Miki really needs is just someone who can _be_ with her without needing to say anything. Someone who can help her feel… comfortable, I guess? It's strange, but I feel like Yuki might be the one who understands that the best."

"You're probably right. Yuki's good at just helping you feel better. What did you tell her, anyway? I mean, I don't think she was ready to hear the whole story…"

"I told her that there was an accident." Yuuri shrugged. "I had a story to give her in case she asked questions, but she seemed to accept the vague explanation. It's probably for the best."

"Yeah." Kurumi nodded. "Yuki will help her more than I'd be be able to." She looked down at her hands.

"Maybe there isn't much you can do _now_ ," Yuuri said. "But once she's thought things through, she'll need someone to talk to. And I think you'll be better at that than I would."

"Is that because of… you know."

"Partly. But not just that. Miki is the type who is going to want to just face the thing head on. And I think she'll need your support."

"Me? What about you?"

"I don't know. I'm sure I'll be able to help with something. But I think that right now, it might be best to let her work through it her way. I always want everything to be as nice and neat as possible. And I'm not sure that's really possible now. But when the time comes, I'll be there for her."

"Makes sense to me, I guess." Kurumi stood, slowly. "I guess we should give them some space. Why don't you show me what you and Yuki were working on upstairs? I need something to get my mind off of all this." She reached out her hand to help Yuuri up. "What do you say?"

Yuuri took her hand. "Yes, lets."

* * *

"So you think we should just leave it in there?" Kurumi asked. Ostensibly, she was helping Yuuri fold up extra sets of winter clothes to pack into the car, but she had never been any good at folding even when she could focus. At the moment, all she was really doing was balling the clothes up for Yuuri to fix. Granted, at the moment Yuuri wasn't doing too great of a job either. The clothes were getting folded, but it was obvious that she wasn't giving it her full attention.

"I suppose so," Yuuri answered. "The door is secure enough that it doesn't present any danger, and it's unlikely that there's anything useful in there. I don't think there's any reason to risk opening it. It makes the most sense to just leave it alone." She glanced over at Kurumi, who looked deep in thought. "But I can see that you'd rather not."

"I know, it isn't really the most… logical thing to do, but…" she absentmindely scratched at the still-bandaged patch on her upper arm. Yuuri chewed on her lip as she watched, wondering if Kurumi even realized she was doing it. After she had recovered from the bite, she had made her best effort to act like it had never happened, but sometimes it was obvious that it rarely left her mind. No wonder she was so happy when things were normal for a moment or two.

She decided not to ask the obvious question. As much as she wanted to hear what Kurumi thought, she couldn't bring herself to force her friend to dredge up that memory.

"Which one of these coats do you like better?" she asked, holding two of them up. "It's definitely the best quality, but I'm not sure which color I like more. Normally I like brighter colors, but the pattern of this blue one is really nice."

"Well, the patterned one might be better camouflage," Kurumi answered. "Though I'm not sure exactly how _effective_ it would be. I think it really comes down to which one you like more."

Yuuri sighed. "If I knew that, I wouldn't need to ask. I suppose I'll ask Yuki when they're done down there."

As if on cue, footsteps began to echo on the stairwell. A moment later, Yuki appeared. She looked happy, but it wasn't the usual overtly enthusiastic happiness. The twitchy excitement she typically exuded was nowhere to be found, but she radiated a more subtle sense of satisfaction, as if she had finally completed something that was a long time in the making.

"Yuki!" Kurumi exclaimed. Then in a lower voice, "How is she?"

"She'll be okay," Yuki said. "It's still really hard for her, but she'll be okay."

"That's great," Yuuri said. "I knew you'd be able to help."

Yuki just shrugged. "I just wanted to help her feel better."

Another set of footsteps began to come up the stairs.

All three girls mentally reminded themselves not to stare as Miki entered the room. Her steps were slightly unsteady, as if she was just remembering how to use her legs. Her eyes were red, but there was a smile on her face.

"Sorry I took so long," she said in a rough, tired voice. "What did I miss?"

Yuuri held up the two coats. "I'm trying to decide which one of these I like more. What do you think?"

Miki thought for a moment. "I think the pink one suits you more."

"Alright then, I'll go with that one."

* * *

The rest of the day had gone as normal as any day possibly could've in that situation. Obviously there was a huge elephant in the room, but everyone seemed to have a mutually understood agreement that the elephant could wait. At first it was, of course, a bit awkward, but as they sorted through clothes and attempted to fold and pack everything, the tension softened.

By the time the sun started to set, Miki almost seemed to have forgotten everything that had happened. It was obvious that she hadn't, but if nothing else she was preoccupied enough that it didn't occupy her entire mind. There were other things to do. Kurumi understood. If something was chewing at your mind, the best thing to do was to keep yourself too busy to think of it.

That made Miki's question that much more of a surprise. Yuki and Yuuri had headed back downstairs to try to find some more boxes, leaving the two of them alone.

"Kurumi…"

"Yeah?"

"What should I do about… you know."

"Huh?" Kurumi froze for a moment as she tried to make sure she had heard correctly. "What?"

"I know he's already gone, and I know it's probably safer to keep things as they are…" Miki said softly. "But I just don't know if I can leave him like that… I know it's probably dumb, but…"

"It's not dumb," Kurumi said. "It just means you remember how much he meant to you."

"So you think that we should… put it down?"

Kurumi chewed on her lip. A lump was forming in her throat. "Whenever I have to fight them…" she managed. "There were always two things on my mind. Part of it is just good sense. They're dangerous, and it just makes sense to get them out of the way. But really… I always remember that they used to be just like us. They used to be human. And I just feel like it isn't fair that they should turn into _that._ I know they're already gone, but it feels like that's the only thing I can do for them; so that even though they're dead, they're human."

"I see. I… I didn't want to ask this, because I know you don't want to think about it but…" Miki was silent for a long time.

"Go ahead and ask."

"If… if it was your dad… what would you do?"

"I think… I would want someone else to do it," she said. She fiddled with the bandage on her arm. "It isn't a good idea to do it yourself when you were close to them."

"I understand." They were quiet for a bit. "Did I ever thank you for taking care of Megu-Nee for us?" she asked.

"I don't remember, honestly," Miki answered. She began to try to keep her hands busy with the clothes. "There was just so much else on my mind that I didn't even think about it. I was just happy to know that you were alright."

"Well, thank you. It sounds weird, but it feels good to know that she's finally… at peace, I guess." She smiled sadly. "You want me to, uh, repay the favor, right?"

Miki silently nodded.

"Alright, then." Kurumi cracked her knuckles. "It's the least I can do. Really."

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Yuuri asked. She had a feeling that she already knew the answer, but felt she needed to ask.

"It's all I _can_ do," Kurumi answered. She had spent the last twenty minutes scouring the store for any sort of equipment she might need, mainly additional layers of tough clothing that could stand up to a bite. "I need to do it. And I think she needs me to."

"In that case, I'll go tell Yuki to stay with Miki and try to keep her mind off of things. Let me know when you're ready to go. I certainly am not letting you go alone. Not even with your new outfit. Besides, I don't she would want you to put yourself in danger for her sake."

Kurumi nodded. "Thanks. I don't think I want to be alone anyway."

* * *

Kurumi poked her head into the break room, trying to keep most of herself outside so that Miki wouldn't notice the heavy layers of additional clothing that were meant to serve as armor.

"Yuuri and I will be heading downstairs for a bit. We won't be long."

She closed the door.


	5. Chapter 5

Despite Yuki's best efforts, Miki couldn't keep her mind on the game. Granted, Old Maid had never really been one of her favorites, but it was the only card game that they both knew the rules to. Her mind kept drifting downward. The clock didn't help. Every time it ticked, the same thought flashed across her mind: _What's taking them so long?_ The question didn't make much sense yet, it hadn't even been ten minutes since they had left the break room. It felt much longer.

"Mii-kun!"

"Huh?" Miki snapped out of her latest thought.

"It's your turn," Yuki said.

"Oh, right." Miki looked at her cards. "You really don't know any other card games?"

Yuki shook her head. "Nope! I mean, I know how to play War, but that's not really even a game." She looked downcast for a moment, then grinned. "I know! Why don't you teach me one of the games you know?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno. How about… poker! You said you knew how to play poker, right? You could teach me how to play."

"I guess I could," Miki said with a shrug. "What kind of poker do you want to learn?"

"What...kind?" Yuki cocked her head in confusion. "Isn't poker just… poker?"

"Nope. There are a couple different types," Miki said matter of factly. "There's draw poker, stud poker, and community card poker. And there are dozens of variations of each."

Yuki stared. "Uh, how about Bridge?"

"I don't know how to play Bridge, and we don't have enough people here for that anyway."

"Oh. I guess poker is okay, then."

Poker isn't that complicated, there are just a lot of different versions of it. We can just start with regular five card draw poker. It's actually pretty simple." She gathered up the cards on the table and started putting them into the deck. "Now then. Let's start with the basics. The main goal of a round of poker is to have the strongest possible hand of anyone at the table…"

* * *

"What's the best hand you can have, again?" Yuki asked as she examined her hand thoroughly.

"Normally it would be a royal flush, but if you're playing with wild cards, it would be five of a kind. Did you take the jokers out of the deck?"

"I'm not sure if there _were_ jokers." Yuki scratched her head. "Give me three cards."

Miki dealt them.

"So, now, do I bet again, or…?" She didn't get to finish the question. The door swung open and Kurumi and Yuuri came through.

"Sorry we took so long," Kurumi said. She didn't have her shovel, and wasn't wearing all the layers of clothes that she had been wearing; she just had her uniform.

Miki glanced at the clock and realized with shock that they had been gone for over an hour.

"Did… did something happen?" she asked carefully.

"No," Yuuri shook her head. "We just wanted to be careful. And we… took some time to clean up a bit."

"Speaking of which, I'm going to go wash my face," Kurumi said. "I'll be right out. Oh, and by the way, we might actually have a bit of good news. Yuuri can fill you in on that." She disappeared into the bathroom.

"Really?" Miki turned to Yuuri and noticed that she held a thick manilla folder in her hands, nearly overflowing with paper. "What's that?"

"On our way back up, we were poking around the desk down in the basement. It looks like your father put it together."

Miki read the scrawled handwriting on the front of the folder.

 _They got me. I've locked myself in the closet so I won't be a danger to anyone. In this folder is all the information I've been able to gather about what's happened. I couldn't escape, but maybe you'll be able to._

Yuuri smiled. "It looks like your parents will be able to help us more than we thought."

* * *

"I can't believe they managed to put all of this together," Miki muttered to herself. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. My parents were always very organized…"

"Well, it looks like they sure collected a lot of information," Kurumi began to flip through the folder. "Look at this map!" She pulled it out and clumsily began to unfold it.

"Be careful with that," Yuuri said, "We don't want to rip it."

"Yeah, I know." Kurumi slowed down slightly, and a minute later had the map unfolded on the table. "Huh, it's the same map we used to get here," she said.

"Yes, but that's not all. Look." Yuuri pointed. "They marked the location of the shop. There are other marks on here. I wonder what they mean."

Miki put her finger on the dot that indicated the shop, and traced one of the roads. At various points there were little red scribbles across them. "I think I know what they are," she announced. "I'm pretty sure these little red marks are blockages in the roads. See this right here? That's where we got stuck and had to turn around."

"I think you're right," Kurumi said. "They must've scouted out the nearby area. Maybe they were planning to try to get out of here. What do you think the other marks mean?"

"Yeah," Miki said. "Like this blue circle here" —she thought for a moment— "I think that's a convenience store. Those other circles might mark places where they could find food. We'd have to be careful if we investigated, but we might find something useful there."

"It _would_ be nice to have a bit more variety," Kurumi said. "It's too bad we have so little space in the car. Maybe we could pile some stuff on the roof."

"Pile what on the roof?" Yuki emerged from the main section of the store. When Kurumi and Yuuri had returned, she had somehow felt that she needed to give them a bit of space to talk to Miki about what they had found in the basement.

"We were just thinking that we might be able to pack more on the top of the car," Miki explained. "Which could be possible, now that I think about it. The shop does sell luggage racks. We could probably find one that fits the car."

Kurumi grinned and opened her mouth.

"I don't think so," Yuuri said, glaring in her direction.

"Fine," Kurumi mumbled.

"What's that?" Yuki peered over Yuuri's shoulder.

"It's just a map of the area. Miki's parents had marked some… points of interest on it."

"I know _that,_ " Yuki said. "I was asking about that!" She pointed to some scribbles in the somewhat crumpled corner of the map. "It looks like there's a note."

"So there is," Yuuri began to smooth it out.

Yuki cleared her throat before beginning to read. "The keys to the RV are in the bottom drawer under the invoices."

Yuuri, Miki, and Kurumi all looked at the note, then at each other, eyes wide.

"What's an invoice?" Yuki asked.

* * *

"This is awesome!" Kurumi poked her head out the window of the RV. There wasn't much to see aside from the buildings that surrounded the parking lot, but she could imagine. "It's like driving a miniature fort!"

"There's even a ladder up to the roof!" Yuki said from halfway through the trapdoor in the top of the vehicle.

"There's a bathroom, too," Miki added. "Although it works a bit more like an outhouse, and emptying it won't be fun. We don't have to worry about that now though."

Yuuri was silent. Her mind was thinking about all sorts of things. The first thing that had struck her was that aside from the two seats at the front, the rest of the RV looked more like a room than the interior of a vehicle. In fact, it somehow looked more homey than anywhere they had called home so far. She had never seen carpeting in a van before. Or cabinets, or a table, or a microwave, or seats that looked like a small sofa. Even better, there were beds. Enough for all of them. She couldn't even remember the last time she had slept in a real bed.

"Well, we've definitely got enough room for me to bring that trap along!" Kurumi declared. "There's all sorts of storage space in here, and we can tie a ton of stuff to the roof."

The engine rumbled to life.

"Engine works fine; the gas tank is full, too," Miki said. "I'm pretty sure they were really meticulous about keeping everything serviced, so we should be good for a while." She shut off the engine. "We should still make sure we have some basic repair stuff, though."

"Do you know how to fix an RV?" Yuuri asked. Miki's statement had immediately called to mind all sorts of potential issues that could arise.

"Well, no, but if we have the manual we should at least be able to do stuff like changing a flat tire or changing the oil and stuff like that." Miki shrugged. "Hopefully we won't have to."

"Right," Yuuri said softly.

"Hey, at least we hadn't actually started packing the car up yet," Kurumi said. "Speaking of which, what are we going to do with the car, anyway? Do we want to try to bring it along?"

"I guess we _could_ ," Yuuri said. "It might be helpful to have a backup vehicle in case something happens to this one. I'm not sure it's worth the trouble, though."

"What? Why not?"

"The main thing is that someone has to drive it. And I'm not sure I'd want to split us all up like that, even we do stay close together. We wouldn't have any way to communicate if one of us needed to stop."

"I guess that's true…" Kurumi said.

"That and I'm not sure how much gas is left in Megu-nee's care anyway. We weren't really close to running out; we had maybe a third of a tank left. But it's definitely going to run out before the RV does. Unless we could find a way to refuel it, we might have to end up leaving somewhere anyway."

"I see." Kurumi was silent.

"I know what we could do!" Yuki said from the roof.

"What?" Miki poked her head out of the window of the RV.

"Why don't we do what her parents did? We could leave the keys by the car with a note saying that if anybody needs it, they can have it. Sure, there probably isn't anybody around to use it, but you never know."

The three girls thought for a moment.

"I think Megu-nee would like that," Yuuri said.

Miki nodded. "Me too. Or at least, I think she would."

"I guess we'll do that, then," Kurumi said. She smiled. "She'd be happy to know that she can still help people."

"Great!" Yuki said. "Now, can somebody open the door on the roof? I accidentally knocked it shut."

* * *

"So I think we could easily bring nearly three times the food we thought we would be able to," Yuuri said as she scribbled something in her notebook.

Kurumi sighed. "And here I thought we had finished packing." She paged idly through the folder. Most of the papers had turned out to be something a diary, though focused mostly on notes on how to deal with the situation. It made for interesting reading, even if she had already known most of it through experience.

Yuuri rolled her eyes. "If it means we can bring so much more food and supplies along, spending an extra day packing isn't that big of a deal."

"Besides, it's not like we had already started packing the car or anything," Miki added as she examined the expiration date on another packet of food. "We already know what to pack, we just need more of it."

"It's still a pain," Kurumi grumbled.

"It would go faster if you were helping," Miki said.

"I was!" Kurumi said. "I was helping Yuki fold all the extra sets of clothes. I'm just taking a break now."

Yuuri gave her a narrow sideways glance. "You've been 'taking a break' for the last 20 minutes.

Kurumi shrugged. "She told me to take my time. Said she wanted to think for a bit."

"I wonder what about?" Miki said.

"It could be almost anything." Yuuri put down her pen. "I wish I knew what was going in her head. Everything that's happened lately… some of it must be getting through to her. She can't possibly believe that this is still a normal school trip."

"At this point, I'm not going to ask questions," Kurumi said as she turned the page. "The last thing we want to do is push her too hard. She'll work through things on her own eventually."

"And what if she doesn't?" Yuuri asked. "What do we do then?"

"What _could_ we do?" Miki answered. "None of us really know how to handle this sort of stuff. We'd just have to keep helping her and hope that everything turns out okay."

Kurumi sighed."I guess I should go check up on her, at least."

"It couldn't hurt," Yuuri said.

"Alright, let me just finish my… page…" Kurumi was silent as she stared at the folder. "Then she turned the page.

Miki shook her head. "I thought you were just going to finish your page."

Kurumi kept reading as if she hadn't heard a word. She turned the page again.

"Kurumi," Yuuri cleared her throat, to no response. Kurumi kept reading. Her hands began to shake.

"Are you alright?"

"I… I'm fine…" she swallowed hard. "Uh, guys… you might want to look at this."

"What is it?" Miki looked over her shoulder.

"Your parent… they were using a radio to try to find other survivors. They had to modify it to try to increase the range."

"Did they… did they find anything?"

Kurumi nodded slowly. "According to the notes, there was a lot of interference, but they managed to find a weak signal that seemed to be broadcasting something."

"Broadcasting what?" Yuuri asked.

Miki's face went white. "I don't believe it."

"Don't believe what?"

"See for yourself," Kurumi held out the papers. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Yuuri took it and read carefully. She didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to get her hopes up. It was too good to be true.

"There's… there's a safe zone?"


	6. Chapter 6

"We really shouldn't get our hopes up too much," Yuuri said, drumming her fingers on the table in a vain effort to rid herself of the extra nervous energy. "It just seems too good to be true."

"Well, yeah, but we can't just _ignore_ it," Kurumi answered.

"Obviously not, but we don't really know much about this 'safe zone' other than the fact that it might exist." Yuuri turned to Miki, who had been examining the papers. "Is there any other information about it?"

Miki shook her head. "According to these notes, my parents were trying to use a modified radio to pick up any sort of signal they could. Eventually, they managed to pick up some sort of broadcast. The signal was spotty, but it kept repeating, so they were able to piece it together. All it said was that a safe zone had been established, and then the location." She began to rifle through the pile of maps until she had found the one that showed the bulk of the region. "Here."

Kurumi looked at where Miki was pointing. "A military base?"

"It makes sense, I guess," Yuuri said. "I'd guess they'd have a pretty good shot at defending themselves, and if the virus was the result of some government project, they'd have the best ability to keep it from infecting them. But… do you think it's still there?"

"According to this, it hasn't been very long since they managed to catch that broadcast," Miki said. "It looks like they were getting ready to leave when…" She stopped, and all three girls were quiet.

"So do we want to try to get to it?" Kurumi asked, largely to fill the silence.

"Well, we can't stay here," Yuuri said. "And it looks like it's in the same general direction as the university, which is where we were heading anyway. If there's anyone there, maybe they know more about this safe zone. If it _is_ out there, it's definitely where we want to go."

"I guess we should get back to packing then," Kurumi said. "It's going to be a long drive."

* * *

"You mean we're _not_ going to the university?" Yuki asked as she passed another box of freeze-dried food through the hatch on the roof of the RV. "I thought our whole reason for leaving the school was to go there."

"We're still going there," Kurumi answered through the hatch. "It's just not our final destination anymore. Just a stop on the way."

"So we're stopping to see if there's anybody else there?"

"Pretty much. Maybe see if they want to go with us. Or maybe they know more about it. We won't know until we get there."

"How long will it take us to get there?"

"No idea." Kurumi shrugged. "It depends on… traffic. You know, and road closures and stuff. Yuuri and Miki are trying to map out the best route."

"When are we leaving?"

"Probably as soon as we finish packing up. We've spent enough time hanging around here. Besides…" she paused. "I think Miki would appreciate a change of scenery."

"I guess so…" Yuki said as she passed another box of food onto the roof. "It's probably hard for her to hang around here after everything that happened."

"That's true."

"We should try to think of some way to cheer her up!" Yuki poked her head through the hatch. "We should bake her a cake!"

"Sure," Kurumi muttered sarcastically. "Let's bake a cake. If you can get the ingredients for it, why not? But that can wait, I think for now we need to give her some space. I know you're always trying to keep our spirits up, but we should be careful not to go overboard. For now, just let her know that you're there for her and leave it at that, okay?"

Yuki nodded.

"Great. Now bring up the next thing."

"Will do!" Yuki ducked back down into the hatch. "Uh, Kurumi? I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"Are we really bringing this?"

"Huh?" Kurumi looked over the edge to see what Yuki was holding. "Of course we're bringing that! We've got plenty of space."

"Okay. I don't know if Yuuri and Mii-kun will be happy about it."

"What they don't know won't hurt them."

"Alright." Yuki shrugged and passed the pigeon trap up to the roof.

Kurumi accepted the box with a grin. "I told you I'd be back!"

* * *

"It looks kinda like a turtle, doesn't it?" Kurumi put her hands on her hips and surveyed the top of the RV. The massive stack of boxes that she and Yuki had hauled to the top was no longer visible. Instead she just saw a large blob held in place by a lot of rope.

"Are you sure it's secure?" Yuuri reached up and plucked one of the ropes. "It would be a shame if anything fell off."

"Unless the whole roof comes off the van, that stuff isn't going anywhere," Kurumi said smugly. "I strapped all the boxes down, threw a bunch of tarps over it, and then tied it all down again. It'll be a bit of a pain in the butt to unpack it, but it's mostly food anyway. If we're lucky, we won't have to use much of it."

"If we're lucky." Yuuri repeated.

"Hey, we've done pretty well so far. I mean, yeah, things kinda suck, but we're doing way better than most people."

Yuuri sighed. "I wish we didn't have to rely on luck so much. It can't go on forever. It'll have to run out eventually. Though I suppose that's what all that extra food is for. It's not like we're _relying_ on luck to get us through this. Even if we're lucky, we can still try to stack the deck in our favor as much as we can."

"That reminds me," Kurumi said, "we should bring a pack of cards with us. Gotta have something to do while we're on the road."

* * *

"You're _sure_ we've got everything we need?" Yuuri asked. She drummed her fingers on the table. She couldn't think of anything else they could pack, and she didn't feel like she was forgetting something. But that was no reason not to check. If you could forget something, you _wouldn't_ remember that you had forgotten it.

"As much as we could fit in the RV," Miki answered. She carefully closed the folder where she had stored all of the information that her parents had accumulated. "Within reason, anyway. We've got food, first aid kits, camping equipment, spare sets of clothes, the works. Do you have the route planned out?"

"Pretty much." Yuuri spread the map on the table. "This route should be clear to get us onto the highway, and from there it should be a straight shot for a while. To actually get to the university might be a bit of a challenge since it's in the middle of town though, and we have no idea about blocked roads in that area."

"How long do you think it will take?"

"Probably a few days at least. Maybe over a week depending on how it goes."

"I see." Miki chewed on her lip for a moment. "And the safe zone?"

"I honestly have no idea," Yuuri said. "We don't know anything about what the roads are like up there. If we're lucky, we might be able to get there within a few days of reaching the university. If not, it could be another few weeks. Maybe longer. There's no way to say."

"Ugh," Miki wrinkled her nose as she began to fold the map back up. "I hate not knowing. Even if it did turn out to be a long trip, I'd rather _know_. I can't stand it."

Yuuri nodded. "I understand. I think."

Miki didn't say anything. Then she stood. "I'm going to go check on Yuki and make sure she's got all of her stuff together. I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?"

Yuuri nodded again. "Of course." She watched as Miki left the breakroom. "I wish I understood _better_ ," she mumbled to herself.

* * *

Miki settled herself in her sleeping bag. She didn't feel tired or sleepy, but she knew she was. They had spent the whole day packing and loading, and it couldn't take too long for all that effort to take its toll. She heard the tent flap open and Yuki's head poked in.

"I can't believe we're leaving already," Yuki said. "We just got here!"

"Well, we can't stay here forever," Miki answered with a shrug. "Besides, it was never the plan to stop here. We were just trying to get to the university. It was just luck that we ended up here."

"Yeah, I guess it was pretty lucky. We got an RV and a ton of food and stuff, which is nice, even if the food wasn't that tasty. Although, I guess in some ways it… wasn't all that lucky."

"It's okay," Miki mumbled. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? It's okay to not be fine. You shouldn't pretend to be okay when you aren't."

"How ironic," Miki mumbled to herself. "I'm not… happy about it, but I think I'll be able to deal with it. You can still be okay even if you're going through something painful." She rolled over and pulled her head into her sleeping bag. "I'm not trying to pretend that I'm happy."

"I guess not." She heard Yuki wriggling into her own sleeping bag. "You think you're ready to leave?"

"I think so. There isn't anything else to do here. We have everything that we need, and we did what we came here for. Hanging around here would just be a waste of time. Anyway, we should get to sleep. We want to leave first thing tomorrow morning."

"I _am_ pretty tired after moving all of those boxes around all day." Yuki yawned. "I wonder where we'll be tomorrow night at this time."

Miki sighed. "I'm wondering the same thing."

* * *

None of the girls slept particularly soundly. Everyone's heads were too full and the thoughts wouldn't stop. It was too hard not to think about what would happen next.

Miki couldn't push away the fact that once she left the store, she would be leaving the last part of her old life behind. The place might have been shattered by the end of the world, but it it still had at least a trace of familiarity. But she couldn't stay. Not in the place where she knew her parents had… she refused to finish that thought. At least she knew what had happened to them. She could abandon the hope of ever running into them. It hurt, but she had always known that it was futile. Now she could mourn and move on. If only she had gotten a good look as they were leaving the school… then she could've put another memory to rest.

Yuuri couldn't keep herself from going over the checklist again and again. She hadn't forgotten anything, but she could never be _sure_. She had managed to help hold things together so far, but how much longer could she keep it up? That Miki had directed them to such a convenient place was a stroke of luck. You couldn't rely on that. They could only rely on each other. Which meant that the other girls were relying on her. That was a lot to deal with. She didn't even know where they would be sleeping tomorrow. In the RV, most likely. It was better than she expected. But it wouldn't be the same as being in a building. Maybe they could find somewhere safe. That was their whole goal in this trip, after all.

Kurumi couldn't get comfortable. Spending so much time hauling boxes around made everything ache. She was almost too tired to sleep. It wasn't just the physical work either. It was all the walking on eggshells. Miki obviously needed moral support, given all the crap she had gone through in the past few days. And Yuuri barely hung onto the frayed ends of her sanity as she tried to ensure that everything was in place. And who knew what was even going on in Yuki's head right now. Kurumi just wanted to make sure she wasn't giving anyone any more to worry about.

Yuki's toe itched. And it was one of those annoying itches that moved around whenever she tried to scratch it. With the sleeping bag so tight there really wasn't any way for her to reach down and scratch it with her hands. Why had she decided to stick with the legged sleeping bag? She could unzip the bag, of course, but that would probably wake the others. Not to mention that all of her wriggling around trying to scratch the itch was making the inside of her bag rather warm. The itch would go away eventually. She couldn't get rid of it herself, but eventually it would stop. Eventually.

* * *

Yuuri sat in the passenger seat of the RV, carefully examining her checklist.

"Everything is packed?"

"Check!" Miki called from her seat in the back.

"We have the map ready with our route!"

"Check!" Kurumi, seated in the driver's seat, gave a thumbs up.

"Has everybody used the bathroom?"

Silence.

"Yuki…" Yuuri looked back over the seat. "Did you use the bathroom before we got on?"

"Yeah. I don't know why it's a big deal though. The RV has a bathroom."

Miki shook her head. "Yes, but we can only use it so many times before it fills up and we have to empty it." She waited for the information to sink in.

"Ewwww!"

"Exactly. We shouldn't use it unless we absolutely have to."

"So are we ready to go?" Kurumi asked. "I just want to get moving already."

Yuuri nodded. "Well, everything on the checklist is good. If Miki and Yuki are ready, we can head out."

"Yeah! Let's go!" Yuki said excitedly.

Kurumi looked back over her shoulder. "Are you ready to go, Miki?"

"Yes."

"Great!" The RV roared to life as Kurumi turned the key. "Here we go!"

The RV lurched… backward, with the sound of a garbage can being crushed to oblivion. Just as quickly, it jerked to a halt.

"Whoops. The shift lever doesn't work quite the same way. Let's try that again." The RV moved again, this time much slower and in the right direction.

"Off to a great start, I see," Miki said with a grin.

"Oh, shut it. It's not the same as driving a car, okay. I'll get the hang of it. If I go slow we'll be"

A loud metallic squeal echoed through the cabin.

"What was _that_?" Yuki rubbed her ear.

"It _may_ have been the RV scraping against the fence," Yuuri said.

"I _said_ I needed time to get used to it," Kurumi grumbled.

The RV rolled onto the road. The street was empty. Mostly. Some shapes had been attracted by the noise of their attempted departure. But they moved very slowly. Kurumi sighed and shut off the engine.

"Hey, I thought we were leaving!" Yuki said.

"We are. I've just got to lock the gate behind us. We wouldn't want anybody to make a mess of the shop's parking lot."

"Oh right."

Kurumi nodded at Miki, then turned to Yuuri. "Keep an eye out."

She scurried out the RV's door, and swung the gate closed. There was a slight dent in the edge where the RV had bumped it, but it latched well enough. Kurumi checked to make sure that Yuki wasn't look, then slipped a small can of spray paint out of her pocket. On the wall beside the gate, in large letters, she left a message to match the one that they had left on the store window out front.

STORE IS SAFE

FOOD INSIDE

GOOD LUCK

She looked over her shoulder. They were still far away. She shrugged and left a small smiley face next to the message. If anybody saw it, hopefully they would believe it. And hopefully they would find the letter that Miki and Yuuri had written and left on the breakroom table about the store and safe zone. The chances that anyone was alive to find their message were unbelievably small. But maybe they weren't the only ones who were lucky.

"Might as well make our own luck," Kurumi muttered. She pocketed the spray paint and climbed back on board the RV. Yuuri nodded knowingly at her as she took her seat.

"Okay, _now_ we can go," she said.


	7. Chapter 7

The RV rumbled along the highway. The headlights weren't on yet, even though the sun was low enough that the sky was no longer blue. The highway was mostly empty. Apparently not too many people had gotten caught on it, and even most of the things that roamed the streets hadn't yet ambled up the onramps. The only real obstacles were, ironically enough, the roadblocks that had been set up in a futile attempt to stem the tide. They had failed at that, but the concrete barriers and abandoned military vehicles had certainly halted their progress. At least it had been accounted for by their map.

Searching the empty jeeps hadn't accomplished much. Nearly everything of use had already been looted, leaving only a flashlight, a gas can, and a few military rations that the soldiers hadn't found worth taking with them when they retreated.

"You're weaving between the lanes," Yuuri said as she watched the road.

"So?" Kurumi yawned. "It's not like I'm going to get pulled over. Honestly, if I did, that would be cool with me."

"I just think you're starting to get tired," Yuuri said.

"Maybe a bit." Kurumi yawned again. "I guess we should find somewhere to stop for the night." She sighed. "I wish we could go to a hotel."

"Don't we all?"

"Yeah, I guess. I'll try to find a nice quiet spot on the side of the road. I've barely seen any of them up on the highway, and the RV is pretty tough, so we should be pretty safe. Especially if we don't make any noise."

Yuuri nodded. "It's probably safer than going into the more… populated areas." She paused. "You should probably put the headlights on."

"Yeah. I just don't want to… attract attention. You know."

"You don't want to crash either."

"Good point." Kurumi turned on the headlights. "How about we stop on top of that overpass up ahead? It's probably safest spot to be right now. And we'll get a nice view."

"It's as good as anywhere." Yuuri answered.

* * *

Yuuri sat on the roof of the RV, leaning against the pile of supplies. As the sun vanished over the horizon, the emptiness of the city grew more and more evident. In the light of day, it almost looked normal if you didn't examine it too closely. Most of the taller buildings had avoided the damage; most of the carnage was confined to the streets. But now that darkness fell, it was abundantly clear that she was surveying an empty shell. There wasn't a light to be seen, aside from the sun. Somewhere there were probably a few emergency lights like the ones in the shop, but she couldn't see them. The city was as dead as the people who had lived there. Yuuri tried not to think about it. The sunset was still quite beautiful, at least. Or it would've been if the blocky shapes of the abandoned skyline weren't blocking parts of it.

She pulled her jacket around her shoulders as a breeze streamed over her. It was cool. Not cold. Not yet. But it would be before long. Where would they be then? Right now they weren't anywhere, and they only had a vague idea of where they were headed. Supposedly they'd eventually reach somewhere safe. She wanted to believe that, but refused to get her hopes up. For all they knew, that was already gone.

If it was, then what? Would they keep driving? The RV would have to run out of gas eventually. Or it would break down, and they wouldn't be able to fix it. They might have to walk. Would they be able keep themselves safe if that happened? Their best bet in that scenario would be to try to find somewhere safe nearby, like they had done with the school and the store. Eventually they would have to simply give up on escaping. They would have to settle for where they ended up. No more thoughts of being saved or rescued or finding somewhere to go.

And what if one of them got sick? Or injured? They didn't have any medicine beyond what they had in their first aid kits, and none of them had any medical experience. Could they fix a broken leg? What if one of them cut themselves and got infected? They couldn't just go to a doctor for antibiotics. Then she thought of all the diseases and disorders that could kill even if you did have a doctor. Right now they had each other, but eventually they wouldn't. And there wouldn't be any new friends to fill the gap. Finding Miki had been a fluke; they couldn't count on something like that happening again.

She stared out over the dark city, wishing that she could see anything, anything at all that meant that there was someone else out there and that they weren't alone in the world. She didn't see anything.

 _It's not fair. There are so many things that can go wrong…_

"Hey, whatcha doin?"

"Gah!" Yuuri almost fell over as Yuki's head popped out of the hatch.

"Enjoying the view, huh?" Yuki clamored out of the hatch and took a seat beside her.

"I… guess you could say that."

"Something's bothering you," Yuki said. It wasn't a question.

"A little," Yuuri admitted. "I'm just… worried about the future, that's all."

"Hmmm. The future can be pretty scary, can't it?"

"You have no idea."

"I used to worry a lot about the future too," Yuki said. "There were just so many things that could happen, that I didn't know how to deal with. I just didn't want to think about. Like at school. I used to be so afraid of graduating. School wasn't _always_ fun, but at least I was familiar with it."

Yuuri just listened.

"I didn't think I'd ever be able to leave because I'd be too afraid of what would happen later. But I guess sometimes there's nothing you can do, you know?"

"I know."

"But even if it's scary, you have to deal with it eventually. Even if you really really really don't want to. There are a lot of things that I wish I didn't have to worry about."

Yuuri looked at her. Yuki's voice had changed slightly, as if she had suddenly gotten older.

"But you know what I realized?"

"What's that?"

"That some things seem impossible when you think about having to do them, but then when the time comes, and you actually have to _do_ it, you end up being stronger than you thought you were."

Yuuri's mind snapped back to what Miki had told them that first night in the shop. "You are?"

"Yeah! And I bet you are too." Her voice was back to how it usually was. "I know it's kinda dumb and pointless to just say not to worry about things. You can't help that. But I just want you to know that just because something scares you doesn't mean you can't handle it."

"I guess so. I just wish I didn't have to worry about it. Especially since I can't _do_ anything about it."

"Yeah, that's tough. I guess you just have to think about something else then. It doesn't really solve the problem, but it gives your mind a bit of a break. Oh! That reminds me of what I came up here for in the first place! You can think about that instead."

"Oh?"

"Yeah! I have an idea for something we could do."

Yuuri thought for a moment. Yuki was right. Worrying wouldn't do any good right now.

"What is it?"

Yuki rubbed her hands together in anticipation. "Well, I was thinking of ways to help Miki cheer up…"

* * *

The girls settled down to sleep on the floor of the RV. Oddly, Yuuri's greatest obstacle to sleep didn't seem to be discomfort or even danger. The RV door was locked, with several heavy straps across it for extra strength, and a quick survey determined that there was no danger nearby. Of all things, she couldn't help but feel annoyed at the fact that she had to go to bed without taking a shower. How long had it been since she had done that? She hated going to bed feeling dirty.

She smiled to herself. If being a bit sweaty was the worst thing that bothered her now, maybe things weren't so bad right now. She was too tired to worry about the future too much. Maybe Yuki was right.

The last bit of light faded from the windows. Yuuri closed her eyes.

* * *

"Hey, you gonna sleep all day? We've got to get going."

Yuuri felt something poking her in the side. She opened her eyes to find Kurumi's toe jabbing her in the ribs. The windows of the RV were bright. She blinked a few times to make sure she was awake. She hadn't even remembered falling asleep.

"What time is it?" She asked as she climbed out of her sleeping bag.

"I have no idea, but it's way later than you usually sleep," Kurumi said. "Seriously, you never sleep later than I do. When I got up I couldn't believe you were still out. Here's breakfast." Kurumi tossed a granola bar in her general direction. "Not exactly pancakes and bacon, but we've gotta make sure we don't run out, right?"

"Right." Yuuri took a seat at the RV's table, where Yuki was already sitting and munching on her own food.

"Remember the plan!" Yuki whispered to her.

"Yes, yes, I know."

"Alright, time to get moving," Kurumi announced. "Everybody hold on!"

The RV engine sprang to life and the vehicle lurched forward once more.

"Hey, you didn't run into anything this time!" Yuki said excitedly.

"Oh shut up," Kurumi grumbled.

* * *

Yuuri looked back over her shoulder to make sure that Yuki was still successfully keeping Miki occupied. The two of them were busy with some sort of card game. She didn't know which one. Miki knew a lot of them. Whatever it was, they were both busy. She turned back to Kurumi.

"And that's the plan," she said. "Do you think you could help us?"

"I guess, though it's a bit of a long shot. And I thought you wanted to travel as quickly as possible."

"We do, but we also decided to stop anywhere where we'd be able to scrounge up more supplies. It wouldn't be very out of the way. And it would give us something to do after being cooped up in here all day."

Kurumi shrugged. "I guess so. What kind of place should we look for?"

"Well, we know from the map that we'll be passing through a business district soon. There should be a grocery store around there someplace."

"Maybe, but would be even be able to _do_ that? I mean, we don't exactly have a lot of equipment."

"I realize it's unlikely. I'm just saying that it might not be impossible."

"Sure, I'll help then," Kurumi said. "Sounds like fun."

* * *

"Ugh, I'm so sick of this." Kurumi knocked on the door of the RV. Yuuri's face appeared in the window. Kurumi gave her a thumbs up, and the door opened.

"Store should be safe, at least for a bit." Kurumi said. "There are some milling around in the parking lot, and I had to put down a few in the store, but as long as we don't make a ruckus we should be alright for a bit."

"In that case, I suppose we should head in."

The RV was parked in back of a grocery store. As with everywhere else, it was in a state of rather extreme disrepair. A metal grate had been dropped over the main doors, but the loading bay had been left half open. In a stroke of luck, the few things that meandered to the back of the store had been mostly unable to navigate their way up the stairs and under the half-lowered garage door.

"So you think we'll be safe in here?" Miki asked as they crawled under the door.

"Should be," Kurumi answered. "They aren't smart enough to bend over. But we can always just do _this_."

She grabbed a nearby cart, still stacked high with boxes full of something that was almost certainly no longer edible, and dragged it in front of the gap in the door, neatly covering it before reaching down and putting on the brake.

"I'd like to see them move _that_ ," she said.

"I've never been in the _back_ of a grocery store before!" Yuki said excitedly. "Come on!" She grabbed Yuuri's sleeve and tugged. "Let's go look."

"Fine, fine." Yuuri turned to Kurumi and Miki. "We're going to go investigate, I suppose. If you need anything, just call. We'll hear you. The store isn't that big."

"Alright. We'll grab one of these carts and haul it over to the canned food section and see if there's anything we could use," Kurumi said. "And see if we can find a can opener."

"O-okay," Miki mumbled, surprised that Yuuri and Yuki were already off before she even had a chance to respond.

"Come on!" Kurumi hooked Miki's arm with her own and began to pull her in the opposite direction. "We've got a lot to do."

* * *

"We do have a can opener, right?" Kurumi asked as she examined a can of chicken noodle soup. "It would be kind of a waste if we didn't have a way to get these open."

"All of the utility knives we took from the store have manual can openers on them," Miki answered. "It's kind of annoying to use those though. When we're done here we should try to find one. We should have Yuki and Yuuri look for one too."

"Yeah," Kurumi said.

Miki stood up. "I'll go let them know."

"Wait!" Kurumi said, grabbing Miki's arm to keep her from leaving. "Uh… just… I'll go tell them. I'll be right back."

She quickly strode off before Miki could respond. Miki just watched in confusion as she walked away. "What was that about?"

* * *

As soon as she was out of sight, Kurumi did a u-turn. She knew exactly where the other two girls had gone, but she needed to make it look like she was searching for them. She still couldn't believe that they were actually taking the time to do this. Well, she could believe that Yuki was doing it. What she couldn't believe was that she had somehow convinced Yuuri to get in on it. Not that that was a bad thing. Yuuri was wound as tight as a spring and if she was starting to unwind, Kurumi wouldn't complain.

She turned the corner down the next aisle and almost crashed into the two of them.

"Whoa!" She took a step back. "What are you two doing over here?" she whispered. "I thought you were heading over to the bakery to see if they had a working oven!"

"We already checked. Most of them were out of commission because the gas lines are down, but there was one hooked up to a gas tank that seems to work. It's preheating now."

"Yeah, but what are you doing _here_?"

"Picking up ingredients!" Yuki held up a box of cake mix. "You _said_ that if I could find the ingredients, I could bake a cake, didn't you?

"I did, didn't I?"

"And what are you doing over here, anyway? You're supposed to be making sure that Miki doesn't find out!"

"Oh right," Kurumi said. "She wanted me to tell you to pick up some can openers. You know, since we're picking up a bunch of soup. You guys better hurry up. I don't know how long I can keep her distracted."

"Well, once we put it in the oven, we should be able to leave it until it's done," Yuuri said. "You'd better get back before she wonders where you are. We'll pick up any can openers we see."

"And we'll come get you when we're ready!" Yuki added. "Oh, and one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Miki would prefer plain cake, or chocolate?"

Kurumi shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe you could just do one of each. Definitely chocolate frosting though."

"Oooh, yeah! Frosting!" Yuki squealed. "The most important part of the cake!"

"Technically, it isn't part of the cake at all," Yuuri said.

"Close enough," Kurumi answered. "Listen, I have to get back before she wonders what's taking so long. Just keep an eye out for the can opener okay." She paused. "Also, grab some toothpicks. It'll help you tell if the cake is done. If you poke the cake with the toothpick and it doesn't stick, that means it's ready."

"Got it!" Yuki saluted.

"Great. I'll catch you two later." She hurried away.

Yuki and Yuuri turned their attention back to the shelves.

"I wonder if she'd want chocolate chips in the cake," Yuki said.


	8. Chapter 8

"Right this way!" Yuki tugged on Miki's arm. "Hurry!"

"What's going on?" She asked. "And why do I have to wear a blindfold for it?"

"Because it's a surprise, duh. Watch your step."

"We don't have time for this," Miki snapped as she felt her way along the shelves. "We're supposed to be looking for supplies!"

"It's fine," Kurumi said, grinning widely. "Yuuri said we could use a break after driving all day. We have to try to keep our spirits up, you know."

"Yes, but why is this a surprise for me when all of you know about it?"

"Uh…" Kurumi paused. "I'm not sure, actually. It was Yuki's idea."

"I suppose that explains it." It was Miki's turn to pause. "What's that smell?" It was something familiar, but she couldn't place it. All she knew was that the last time she had smelled it was long ago. Before everything had changed.

"You'll see!"

"Alright, watch your step." Kurumi put a hand on Miki's shoulder, guiding her past the counter and toward the source of the smell. "We're almost there."

"I swear, just when I think I've gotten used to you three, you go and do something like this," Miki said, fighting a smile. "One of these days I'll find a way to surprise you guys."

"Okay, we're here!" said Yuuri's voice. "On the count of three, you can take off the blindfold. One, two—"

"Ta-da!" Yuki interrupted, whipping the blindfold off of Miki's face. She found herself standing beside what she guessed was the grocery store's bakery counter. Most of the items in the counter had long passed the point of being food, but somehow, on the table, there was a freshly baked cake. That was the smell she hadn't been able to place. It had been so long since she had cake that her brain barely remembered the scent.

"Is… is that a _cake_?" She asked, unsure whether she was really seeing it.

"Yes it is," Yuuri said. "We thought you might enjoy it."

"Well, yeah," Miki stuttered. "Who doesn't like cake?" She took a closer look. "So, uh… what's that green… thing on top of it? A frog?"

"It was supposed to be a smiley face, but I squeezed the frosting bag too hard," Yuki said. "I'm sure it tastes just fine though."

"I'm sure it does." Miki tried to stop herself from giggling. "Whatever possessed you to decide to bake a cake for me?"

"We just thought you might need a little pick-me-up, that's all," Kurumi said. "Besides, it's more fun to surprise somebody."

"So I guess it's your turn next?" Miki asked.

"Maaaaybe!" Yuki said. "If she knew it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?"

"I guess not."

"Well, this is your surprise, so you can have the first piece of cake," Yuuri said. "Go ahead."

"Alright." Miki stepped towards the cake, and stopped. "Um… do you have a plate that I can put it on? Or some sort of a spatula?"

The other three girls stared at the table, suddenly aware that the cake was the _only_ thing on it.

"I _knew_ we forgot something!" Kurumi put both of her hands to her face before dramatically lowering her head to the table.

"Whoops." Yuki scratched her head nervously. "Sorry about that. I guess we didn't think of everything."

"It's okay," Yuuri said. "We'll find some. We are in a grocery store after all."

* * *

"Too bad we don't have any milk," Yuki said. "Or ice cream. Ice cream goes great with cake."

"Alright, who wants the last piece?" Yuuri tapped on the mostly empty cake pan. "We can't really save it, so we might as well eat the whole thing."

"Never thought I'd hear you say that," Kurumi said. "Usually you're trying to stop us from eating stuff like this." She looked at the last piece of cake, which was somewhat mangled from the girls' attempts to slice the cake with a spoon. "Miki can have it. We made it for her after all."

"I can't eat any more." Miki waved the cake away. "One of you can have it."

All three girls looked at Yuki.

"What?" she said. "I don't always need to eat that much."

"Fine, if nobody else wants it, I'll eat it." Yuuri took the pan and began to pick at the last piece with the spoon. "You guys sure you don't want any more?"

"Nah, I'm good," Kurumi said. "While you finish that off, Miki and I will go start loading stuff into the RV.

* * *

"Well, that's annoying." Kurumi peered through the gap under the loading dock's door. Light streamed underneath it, and along with the light were some distressingly familiar shadows. "I wouldn't have thought they'd get back here."

"How many of them are there?" Miki asked, her voice low.

"Not many. Four or five. Maybe half a dozen at most."

"So should we just wait for them to leave? That would probably be the safest thing to do." Miki crouched down beside Kurumi and glanced out into the parking lot. "We don't want to risk attracting any more."

"Yeah, but who knows how long they'll be hanging around for?" Kurumi said. "If all we had to do was get into the RV it wouldn't be a problem, but there's no way that we can load anything like this. It might be a while before they disperse completely."

"But if we try to clear them out, it might just attract more of them."

Kurumi sighed. "Great. I hope it won't take them too long to wander off."

* * *

"That was fun, wasn't it?" Yuki asked as she watched Yuuri eat the last of the cake.

"It was," Yuuri said with a nod. "It's been so long since I baked anything. I'm surprised it turned out so well on the first try. I thought we might have to redo it."

"Yeah, baking can be tough. I remember once I tried to bake a pie and I forgot the sugar." Yuki stared thoughtfully into space. "It was a fruit pie, so it was actually still pretty good, but not as good as it was supposed to be. At least with a cake mix you can't forget something like that."

"Nope. I really did enjoy myself. I suppose it'll be a while before we have a chance to do it again, though."

Yuki shrugged. "We'll just have to think of some other fun thing to do then."

"Maybe we could ask Kurumi and Mii-kun about it," Yuuri suggested. "In fact, why don't we go see how they're doing with loading up the van?"

"Sure!"

The two girls got up and headed for the back of the store. As they proceeded through the double doors into the storage area, Yuuri stopped. She heard a sound in the distance. A wet crunch followed by scraping. The sound of a shovel on… she didn't want to think about what it was on.

"Uh, why don't you wait here for a second?" she said. "I just have to go check on something."

* * *

"Alright, here comes another one." Kurumi said. "You see any others moving in?"

"Nope. Just the one," Miki answered. "There are two more out in the corners, but they look like they aren't aware of us."

"Great." Kurumi walked to the edge of the loading dock and lightly tapped the head of her shovel against the concrete ledge.

The shambling body that had approached the opening lurched towards the sound. She continued to tap the shovel as she walked towards the end of the dock, luring it away from the the door. It made a gurgling noise as it stumbled over the crumbled form of one of its compatriots that Kurumi had already dealt with.

"Hold still, and this won't hurt," she said under her breath. Then she swung the shovel like an axe.

"What are you doing?!"

"Huh?" She turned around and saw Yuuri poking her head out from under the mostly-closed bay door. "Oh, hey. You finish the cake?"

"Yes. I thought you were going to be loading the RV."

"Well, we were going to, but obviously we couldn't do that until we cleared the area." She waved her hand at the now-mostly-empty parking lot. "Looks like it's mostly good to go now."

"Why didn't you let me know? This could've been dangerous."

"Not _really_ ," Kurumi said as she wiped off the edge of her shovel on a nearby weed that had sprouted from a crack in the pavement. "I had Miki looking out for them and they can't really reach us up here anyway."

"There really isn't much danger," Miki added. "I wouldn't have let her do it if I thought it would be. Besides, we didn't want to ruin the cake."

"Well, it _was_ your cake," Yuuri answered, smiling. "I suppose you really are on top of things." She looked over the edge of the loading dock. "Is that all of them?"

"There are one or two of them way across the lot, but as long as we don't make a ruckus they'll probably leave us alone."

"I see." Yuuri continued to stare at the pile. Five minutes earlier she had barely even remembered that this was something they had to worry about. It was incredible that it only took a piece of cake to push that out of her mind.

"Where's Yuki?" Miki asked.

"Cleaning up the kitchen."

"Hmmmm." Kurumi examined her shovel to make sure it was clean. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"Well, it did seem… different."

"Different? How?" Miki asked.

"Usually when she does something like this, she's just very… normal about it. She just treats it like it's nothing out of the ordinary. This time it sounded more… fake. Like she wasn't really worried about cleaning and just said it as an excuse."

"I wonder what that _means_." Miki scratched her head. "I wish I knew what was going on in her head."

"Why don't you just ask her?" Kurumi suggested. "If she really is starting to come out of it, maybe she's just waiting for an opportunity. Maybe we should just talk to her about it."

"Yes, but what if she's not?" Yuuri wrung her hands. "Trying to talk to her directly about it might be too much. It looks like she's been making some progress, but if we don't approach it correctly it might cause her to stop making any progress. Or worse, she might start to regress."

"Yeah, it would be a bit risky," Kurumi admitted. "But we're going to have to deal with it sometime, right? We can't just ignore it forever. What do you think, Miki?"

Miki shrugged. "I'm really not the right one to ask. I mean, I used to think that it was important to… I don't know how to say it, cure her I guess. As soon as possible. But it turned out that she was the only thing keeping us all sane. I still wish that she could get over her delusions, but I just don't know anymore. I'm not sure what to think about it all."

"Perhaps we should wait until our circumstances are a little more…" —Yuuri searched for the right word— "stable. We already have enough things on our plate. We shouldn't try to force it until we can really focus on it."

"Hm." Kurumi contemplated her reflection in the head of the shovel.

"What is it?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that usually it's like you want to take care of everything right away, you know? I can't remember the last time you said we should worry about something later."

"Oh." Yuuri shrugged. "I guess Yuki is rubbing off on me a little. If I try to take care of _everything_ I'll drive myself crazy, right? I think it's best to worry about one thing at a time."

"Like loading all these cans into the RV?" Kurumi nodded at the cart that sat next to Miki.

"Yes, like that. We should probably get started."

Kurumi sighed and set down her shovel. "Alright, why don't you two get started. My arms are still a bit sore. I'll keep lookout for a bit, and after a few boxes we can switch. And once Yuki gets here, she can help too."

Yuuri rolled her eyes. "Fine. I guess you deserve a break after taking care of those things. Come on, Miki. Let's get these boxes loaded."

* * *

Yuuri leaned back against the stack of boxes up on the roof. Her back ached from helping to lift them up, several of her fingers had papercuts from the edges of the cardboard, and one of her toes throbbed from where an errant can had landed. Yet despite all of the physical ailments, she felt better than she had in a long time.

A cool breeze blew past. She grabbed the corner of the blanket she had brought with her and wrapped it around her shoulders. It felt cozy. She looked up into the sky where none of the dead buildings filled her view. She had never noticed how many stars there were. Now that the city was dark, the sky looked so much brighter. And bigger. Memories started bubbling up from years ago when she had first learned just how far away stars actually were. She had been too young to really wrap her head around the scale of the numbers. She still couldn't quite process it all, but she was starting to get an inkling.

The stars hadn't changed at all.

"Nice view, huh?" Yuki said.

"Yes. It's been so long since I've been able to stargaze like this." She sighed. "I wish I had been able to do it sooner."

"Well, at least you have the chance now. Gotta make the most of it, right?"

"I suppose so."

"Well, anyway, Kurumi and Mii-kun are getting ready for bed now, so they wanted me to come up here and get you. Also, Mii-kun says 'thanks for the cake.' She really enjoyed it."

Yuuri smiled. "Tell her she's welcome. And that I'll be down in a minute."

"Alright!" Yuki disappeared back into the RV.

Yuuri looked up again. If only she had the chance to see it sooner.


	9. Chapter 9

"How much longer is this trip gonna take?" Yuki grumbled as she stared out of the window of the RV. "It can't take _that_ long to get to the University."

"I don't know," Kurumi answered. She stared at the cards in her hand. She had been staring at them for so long that she wasn't really looking at them at all. They had faded into the scenery, which hadn't changed at all for the past hour. "It depends on whether we choose the right way to get there. Got any…" she paused to think of a number. "Threes?"

"No." Yuki shook her head. "You just asked for those last time!"

"Oh, right." She looked back at her cards but couldn't really think about them. Tomorrow they would almost certainly reach the end of the path that the map laid out for them, and they'd have to find their own way from there on. They'd probably end up having to go even slower as they found a safe path that wasn't blocked. They were putting forth their best effort to have as many options as possible so that they wouldn't get themselves lost. The worst case scenario, they'd have to turn around and head back to the shop. Which wasn't ideal, but they could at least hang around there long enough to come up with plan B. "Fives?"

"Go fish."

Kurumi didn't feel like fishing. "How's it going?" she called over her shoulder.

"I think we're just about done for the night," Yuuri answered. "We have a couple of routes that should be clear. Mostly." She began to fold the map up. "Although at some point we'll probably have to just make it up as we go. It's a good thing that Miki knows her way around."

"I don't know my way around _that_ well," Miki protested. "I mean, I've driven through the area with my parents, but that's really about it."

"So are we going to drive more tonight or what?" Kurumi asked.

"Probably not," Yuuri answered. "It'll be getting dark soon, and we're already in a relatively safe location. We can relax for a few hours before bed."

"Great, another few hours of 'Go Fish'," Kurumi tossed her cards on the table. "I wish we had brought along another game. Card games are fine, but I really wish we had some more variety."

"I know what you mean," Miki said. "I wish I had some more books along. The one I have isn't really one you want to read in… this situation."

"I think I have some books in my backpack," Kurumi said. "Some old stuff from literature class. I dunno why I hung onto them for so long. You want to borrow them."

Miki smiled. "That would be wonderful!"

"Hey, what about our game!" Yuki grumbled. "I know we're all sick of 'Go Fish', but we should at least finish the game!"

"Yuuri can take my place." Kurumi grinned evilly as she quickly slid out of her seat and waved for Yuuri to come over. "She's probably better at the game than I am anyway."

"Fine," Yuki snorted.

* * *

"I know it's here someplace!" Kurumi grumbled as she rummaged through her backpack, which was filled to near bursting with… nearly everything.

"What all do you even have in there?"

"Just a bunch of stuff that I really don't want to lose."

"If you don't want to lose it-"

"Listen, I know it's all in here, I'm just not sure exactly _where_. Once I started running out of space I just had to start cramming." She tugged on something in the bag, and a large binder came loose, sending bits of paper all over the floor of the RV. "Whoops."

Miki crouched down to start gathering up the scattered pages. "You really should organize this better."

"Yeah, I know. Leaving it like this just sorta feels right to me, though. It's sorta like having my own room, I guess. Not that I mind sharing a room with you guys or anything. It's just nice to have somewhere that's just for me. I know it's kinda dumb."

"I don't think it's dumb at all," Miki answered. "I think it's a really nice idea. Although you still might want to clean up a bit, if only so you can find things more easily."

"Nah, that would defeat the whole purpose. Seriously, you should've seen my room. It was, uh…" Unpleasant memories began to bubble to the surface. "...a mess."

"Yeah, my room wasn't exactly neat either…" Miki picked up the last thing that had fallen from the binder. It was a picture. "Kurumi, what is this?" As she lifted it, she caught a glimpse of her own face, smiling pleasantly. "Is this that picture you took of me when we were doing the sports festival?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess it is." Kurumi mumbled.

"But that was right before that helicopter crashed at the school!" Miki raised her eyebrow. "Have you seriously been hanging onto that picture of me all this time? We weren't even really _doing_ anything?"

Kurumi's face flushed slightly. "It's just a nice picture of you, okay? It just seemed like a shame to throw it away."

"I… uh…" It was Miki's turn to blush. "I'm… flattered? I guess?"

"Hey, that's that picture from the school!" Yuki poked her head between them. "Hey Kurumi, didn't you say that you thought Mii-kun had a beautiful smile in that picture?"

"I dunno. Maybe. I don't remember." Kurumi laughed awkwardly as she plucked the picture out of Miki's hands. "Oh, hey, look. I found a book!"

"Oh, what book?"

"It's about some crazy guy who goes nuts trying on a boat trying to catch a big fish."

"Oh, so _Old Man and the Sea_ , then. I think I've read that one before." Miki took the book, which was much larger than she had remembered. "Or it might be _Moby-Dick_." She gave Kurumi a quizzical look. "Why would you even have this? It's far too long to be something for school."

Kurumi shrugged. "I was _supposed_ to get a copy of _Old Man and the Sea_ , but I couldn't remember the name and I just told the librarian that it was about a crazy dude trying to catch a fish…"

Miki flipped through the pages carefully. "At least you got an annotated edition. Supposedly it's rather tough to read even in English. The translation would probably be even more difficult to understand if they didn't label all the references."

"Yeah, I tried to read it once and didn't get far," Kurumi said. "I got to a chapter that was just about soup and gave up. Maybe I'll give it a shot again sometime. Not like we've got a whole lot else to do. You can read it first, though."

"And make sure you don't drop it on your toes," Yuki added.

* * *

Miki watched the sunset from the roof of the RV. Everyone else was still down below, and for the first time that night she had some silence. Things were more dire than Kurumi realized. In the next day or two, they would be reaching the point where half of the RV's gas would be gone. They'd have to decide whether to push ahead and hope they could find a way to refill, or to head back to the shop. If they were lucky, maybe they'd be able to siphon some gas out of some cars on the way, but that was no guarantee.

She shook her head. There was nothing else they could do tonight, and she wanted to get her mind on something else before she went to sleep. Besides, it wouldn't be long before it would be too dark to read. She opened the book and something fluttered to her feet. Maybe someone had left a bookmark between the pages. She picked it up.

Apparently in her haste to change the subject, Kurumi had stuffed the photograph into the book. Miki looked at it again. She didn't think she looked particularly nice. She had never taken the best pictures, and this one was no exception. Why Kurumi had felt the need to hang on to it was a mystery to her. Then again, after everything that had happened, keeping a picture of a friend didn't seem so odd. She tucked it back into the book and made a mental note to return it later.

 _I might be_ in _the picture, but it's still Kurumi's._

* * *

"Alright, so here's the route we came up with," Miki said, pointing to the line she had drawn on the map. "It gets us onto a nearby highway, which should be pretty clear up to here, where we'll have to get off to try to make our way to the university."

"And what's that?" Kurumi pointed to a thick red line about a third of the way down the outlined route.

Miki and Yuuri glanced at each other.

"Well," Yuuri said, "It's only a guess, but we think that once we get that far away from the shop, we won't have enough gas to make it back. Once we get that far, we'll have to decide whether to keep going or to try to turn back."

"Do we have enough gas to make it all the way to the safe zone?" Kurumi asked.

Yuuri shrugged. "We don't know. It all depends on whether we can find a good path. If we run into a lot of dead ends, probably not. If we get lucky, we could make it."

"Or maybe siphon some gas out of other cars or something," Miki added. "We haven't tried it yet, but there's no reason to think we couldn't manage something. We have options."

Kurumi slid into the driver's seat. "I guess we'll see when we get there."

"I guess so." Miki watched as Kurumi turned the key in the ignition. "Oh, before I forget…" she held out her hand. "Here."

"Huh?"

"It's your picture. You left it in the book."

"Oh, right." Kurumi grinned. "Thanks. I'd hate to lose it!" She reached up and tucked it in the sun visor above her seat. "Alright, let's get on our way!"

* * *

"Bleh!" Kurumi spat into a nearby bush. Then she spat a few more times. "That's gross! Gimme a drink!"

"Just rinse your mouth out," Yuuri said, handing her a water bottle.

Kurumi swished some water around her mouth and spit again. "Did we at least get some gas that time?"

"A little bit." Yuuri held up the bottle, which was now half-full of liquid. "I don't know how far it'll get us."

"Car must've been low on gas," Kurumi grumbled. "Guess we'll have to try another." She sighed. It had taken them long enough to pry open the car's gas cap without making too much noise, and she didn't enjoy the prospect of having to go through the process again. "Any signs of danger?"

"Nothing that I can see," Miki reported from the top of the RV.

"I don't suppose you want to try siphoning some more gas out of here before we try another one?"

"Well, not really, but I guess it's better than having to crack open another one. Let's trade places."

Kurumi climbed up to the top of the RV, then climbed up to the top of the supply pile on the roof. She balanced carefully as she turned slowly in a circle. The city went on forever in every direction. It wasn't much of a city now. More of a maze or a labyrinth; just a bunch of walls keeping them from getting where they wanted to go. It had never felt so large when it was full of people. Now that it was empty, it was just as much of a wilderness as a field or forest.

Down below, she heard Miki sputtering.

"Yeah, you've got to make sure that you don't get any in your mouth," she said.

"You see anything?" Yuuri asked.

"Nothing." Kurumi surveyed the view again. It felt like it had been forever since they had seen any of them. They had passed a few along the side of the road, but they hadn't crossed paths with too many. Where were they? Had they finally started to thin out, or were they just gathering somewhere else? For the time being she would assume the latter. Sure, that was the more unpleasant option, but if experience had taught her anything it was better to be safe than sorry. If she were wrong, at least it would be a pleasant surprise.

"Now that's more like it!" Kurumi leaned over the edge of the RV to see Miki holding up the now-full jug of gas. "It isn't a lot, but if we can get that much out of a few more cars we should be able to fill the tank up. Don't need to worry about running out of gas anytime soon."

Kurumi could hear Yuuri sigh in relief. One less thing to weigh on her mind.

"Hey!" Yuuki's head poked out of the roof hatch. "What's up?"

"Just enjoying the view," Kurumi said. It wasn't until the words were out of her mouth that she realized it was the truth. The view was quite nice, at least if you didn't think of how empty it was. Normally staring out over it filled her with a sense of melancholy. Either she was finally getting over the whole thing, or else she was just getting numb. Whatever the case, the world felt a little less depressing. It probably wouldn't last for long, but she hoped it would. "What have you been up to?"

"I was making my own board game! That way we won't have to play cards anymore!" She held up the top of a cardboard box. It looked like someone had tried to draw Monopoly, Chess, Candyland, and Snakes and Ladders all on top of each other. "Want me to teach you how to play?"

"I'd love to, but I'm on lookout duty right now," she answered. "Maybe as soon as they're done with… what they're doing, you can teach us all how to play."

"Alright! I'll get it set up so we'll be ready to play!" She disappeared back into the RV.

Kurumi turned back to Miki and Yuuri. Yuuri was suppressing a laugh, and Miki was gargling and spitting into a nearby bush. "You guys almost done?"

"Yeah, I think I am," Miki answered. "Bleh."

Yuuri nodded. "I don't think we need to get any more today. We already have this filled up anyway." She gave the jug a shake.

"Great." Kurumi grinned. "How do you guys feel about packing it in for the day so we can learn to play a new game?"

"A new game?" Miki asked. "What kind of game?"

"I have no idea! Come on in and let's find out."


	10. Chapter 10

"Okay, you landed on a _green_ space, so you draw a card from deck two."

Kurumi looked down at the table, which in addition to the massive hand-drawn board, numerous tokens, and dice also held three decks of cards.

"Which one was that again?" she asked.

"The one with the red backs."

"Okaaaay." Kurumi drew a card. "Okay, I got the seven of clubs."

"OOOOHHHHHH!" Yuki gasped. "That means your secondary piece moves seven steps up the Ladder of Harmony!"

"That's a… good thing, right?"

"Obviously. When your secondary piece gets to the top, you get a Super Token."

"Oh, a Super Token. Of course." Kurumi shrugged.

"Your turn!" Yuki pushed a pair of dice towards Miki.

"I still have no idea what's going on," Miki muttered as she threw the dice.

"Ouch, you rolled a seven." Yuki shook her head. "That means your primary piece goes in timeout for the next turn. But on the bright side, if you roll an odd number next turn, you teleport straight to Start and get a hundred points!"

"There are points?"

"Yuuri's turn!"

Yuuri took the dice, rolled, and grinned. "Yes! I landed on a Star Space. That means I get to steal a card from another player and send them back to the Jail Zone! Sorry Yuki."

"Awww…" she scowled as Yuuri moved the coin representing one of her pieces to a black box in the corner of the board.

"And while I'm at it, I'm going to use one of my Super Tokens to get my secondary piece out of Timeout and onto path 2."

Kurumi blinked. "I'm not sure I understood anything you just said."

"You just have to pay attention. It's not _that_ difficult," Yuuri said with a giggle. She glanced out the window. "It looks like it's pretty dark out. We should get to bed soon."

"Yeah, we can finish the game tomorrow," Kurumi said. "If I can figure out how to play it. It would really help if we had a rulebook or something."

"I didn't think you were the type to actually read the rules," Miki said with a grin.

"I do. Sometimes. If it helps me win."

"I bet you read the dictionary looking for good words to use before you play _Scrabble_."

Kurumi shrugged. "Why else would you read a dictionary?"

Yuki poked her smiling face between them. "So did you enjoy the game? I know it's a bit complicated, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't boring. And I need to come up with a name for it."

"It was totally fun," Miki said. "Just a bit complicated. I think we all needed a bit of a break."

"I'm glad you liked it! I'm sure you'll pick it up real quick if we play more tomorrow." She yawned. "I didn't realize that it was getting so late. Yuuri is right. We should really go to bed. Whose turn is it to get the seats?"

"You and Yuuri, I think," Kurumi answered.

"Awesome!" Yuki squealed as she headed for the front of the RV.

"Is it really her turn?" Miki whispered.

"I have no idea," Kurumi said with a shrug. "But after driving all day I don't feel like sitting in that seat more. I'll take the floor, thank you very much."

"You _have_ been spending a lot of time driving." Miki began to unroll her sleeping bag. "What did you think of Yuki's game?"

"Well, I'm still not entirely sure what's going on, so it's pretty close to a real game." She smirked. "It's fun trying to figure things out though. Things seemed almost normal. As normal as things can be, anyway."

"Having a game night is probably about the most normal thing we could do," Miki said. "It's really kinda weird how we keep running into stuff like that, isn't it?"

"I guess. Either that or it's been so long we don't even remember what 'normal' is?"

"Or maybe we're just getting used to it. I mean, it's been quite a while since… you know. Maybe it's... you know what, never mind."

"I think I know what you mean." Kurumi looked out the window and sighed. "I don't really want to believe that this is _normal_ either. Sometimes I can hardly remember what things used to be like." She continued to stare out the window at the city that wasn't a city anymore. Then she shook her head suddenly. "Okay, let's not get all depressed before bed. Why don't you tell me about that book? I bet you got further along than I did."

Miki smiled. "Well, first of all, you were right. There really _is_ a chapter all about eating soup…"

* * *

Kurumi groaned as she woke up, partly from soreness, and partly just because she didn't want to wake up yet. She was still tired, just like every other morning. She couldn't tell whether she just took a while to wake up, or whether she just couldn't get a good night's sleep. Both the sleeping bags on the floor and the RV's seats made one sore if you spent too much time there. They weren't made for sleeping. She couldn't even remember the last time she had slept in a bed.

"Breakfast!" said Yuki's voice, which, as always, was far too chipper for a morning.

A protein bar smacked Kurumi on the forehead. She couldn't remember her last hot breakfast either.

"Normal, right," she mumbled to herself as she unwrapped it. It hadn't even been a week and it already felt like she had lived in the RV for an eternity. Maybe it was almost normal, but if so she couldn't imagine keeping it up. At least at the school they had felt like they _were_ somewhere. Even the shop had felt like somewhere to be. The RV was all well and good, but it just wasn't a place to _live_. She wanted to live somewhere.

"How much longer do you think it'll take us to reach the university?" she asked.

"Well, it's not _certain_ ," Yuuri answered from the front seat, "but if I had to guess based on how much we've been progressing so far, I'd say two, maybe three days."

"What do you think are the chances of someone being there?"

Yuuri didn't answer.

"Well?" Kurumi took a bite of her breakfast.

"I have no idea."

Kurumi sighed. "I thought so. I hate not knowing."

"Don't we all?" Miki sighed. "At least as we get closer we'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with. I know it sucks, but there really isn't anything else we can do."

"Yeah, you're right. I probably shouldn't start the day off so grumpy." Kurumi rubbed her eyes. "What's the plan for today."

Yuki stuck her head right in front of Kurumi. "We finish the game! Duh!"

* * *

"I'm still not exactly sure _how_ I won," Kurumi mumbled. "I didn't even get to the top of that ladder thing. And I had just lost like a dozen points."

"Beats me," Miki said absently, her gaze alternating between the map and the road in front of them. "Make a right here."

"I mean, there were like six different kinds of points. And I think some of them were bad?" Kurumi turned the wheel, sending the RV down a side street. "And that's not even considering all the tokens and stuff."

"I think you won because your primary piece landed on a gold spot and then you rolled a seven, but I can't be sure. You'd have to ask Yuuri. I think she knows the game better than Yuki does. Which is weird. I never figured her to be the type to be into board games." Miki shrugged. "Then again, we were never really in a position to find that out. Not like we even had any board games. Okay, I think you're going to bear left here."

"Yeah, it's really kinda weird how quickly she picked up on… ugh."

"What is it?" Miki asked, her eyes still glued to the map, searching for their next turn.

In answer, the RV rolled to a halt, and began to back up.

"Hey!" Miki looked up. "What are you-" She froze as she saw what was down the road.

The road wasn't blocked, per se. There were no obstacles that the RV couldn't manage. In fact, at first glance it looked like a normal street. Normal, filled with people ambling slowly back and forth. It only took her a second to realize what it really meant. She felt sick.

"I'll find another route," she mumbled.

* * *

"Why were there so many of them back there?" Kurumi kept her voice low. "We barely saw any of them since we left the supermarket. And now there's a whole crowd of them! Where did they all come from?"

"Where did you saw we ran into them again?" Yuuri asked.

"It was right here." Miki pointed. "We were going to cut through this area here."

"Hmmm." Yuuri examined the map. "I'm not sure why there would be so many of them all of a sudden. It's a bit worrying."

"Hey, is that where we got stuck?"

The other three girls started as Yuki stuck her head into the discussion.

"Uh, yeah, it is," Kurumi mumbled.

"No wonder we got stuck!" Yuki said. "Look, there's a mall right there! And there are shops all up and down that street. No wonder it was so busy! We should've known better than to try to get through there during the middle of the day. It's probably alway blocked up." She turned around and marched back to the other end of the RV, where she had been working on perfecting her game.

"She's right, you know," Miki said after a long pause. "We already knew that… they tend to gather in places they spent a lot of time before… that."

"Yeah, we really should've thought of that." Kurumi scratched her head. "It's just… how did she think of that? Do you think she really recognized what happened, or…"

Yuuri shrugged. "She seems to be getting more and more aware, but it's hard to say just how far along she is. We shouldn't push it."

Miki crossed her arms. "We have to address it eventually. We can't keep tiptoeing around it."

"Do we?" The other two girls turned to stare at Kurumi. "What? We haven't exactly been trying super hard to hide things from her like we used to. She hasn't even made us explain why we're living in a van! A few weeks ago, do you know how long it would've taken to convince her that it's okay? She's either starting to get better, or she's so detached that she doesn't even realize that it's weird."

Yuuri considered the idea for a moment. "Which do you think it is?"

"I have no idea," Kurumi said with a shrug. "If I had to guess I'd say she's improving. She's still functioning just fine, even though things have been constantly changing. If she were getting worse, I feel like she'd have trouble dealing with everything that's been happening. But I really have no idea how all that stuff works."

"I don't even know what to think," Miki said with a sigh. "Ever since she might have encountered that… thing at the school… Things changed, and I'm just not sure _how._ I wish there was some way to just get things figured out and just be done with it. I'm sick of not knowing."

"I think we all wish it were that easy," Yuuri said, putting her hand on Miki's shoulder. "It's getting too late to think about all this." She looked out the window at the setting sun. "Why don't we sleep on it and discuss it more tomorrow?"

Kurumi yawned. "Works for me."

* * *

Yuuri wriggled back and forth, trying to make herself comfortable in the reclined seat. Kurumi wasn't kidding; it wasn't really the most comfortable place to sleep. When the van was still, at least. For whatever reason it seemed much more comfortable in motion. Then again, it wasn't just that that made it hard to sleep. They had solved the gas issue, and they had actually had some fun with Yuki's new game, even if the other girls hadn't been able to remember all the rules.

But now she was thinking about Yuki's mental state again. It was a mystery. When was the last time she had even acted like things were normal? Then again, when was the last time any of them had acted like things were normal? What was normal anyway? She rolled over. It wasn't the time to think about this, not when she couldn't do anything about it anyway. It was easier said than done to squish those thoughts out of her head.

* * *

Miki buried her head in her pillow, hoping to block out all the thoughts that were poking at her mind. Usually, it wasn't too difficult. On any given day she was generally too tired to worry about anything for too long before nodding off. But there was one memory that she never could get rid of. Ever since they had reached the store it started to poke in. When they had gone into the basement, and found the note it had gotten worse. Tonight it had wedged itself in her head and wouldn't go away.

"Go away…" she murmured to herself. "I don't want to think about how things were…If things can't go back..."

She pulled both her head and pillow under her blanket and began to cry.

* * *

Kurumi snored. Even if there was something to worry about, there was nothing she could do about it. No point in getting worked up over it. She rolled over in her sleep and her head met the wall with a muffled thud. She grumbled to herself as she rubbed her head, oblivious to everything but the pain pulsing through her head and the unhappiness of having her sleep disturbed. As the pain faded a bit, she realized that the RV wasn't silent.

She crept over to where Miki's sleeping bag was balled up in in the corner.

"Miki," she whispered. "Miki." She put her hand on where she assumed Miki's shoulder would be. "Miki, are you okay?"

The balled-up sleeping bag slowly uncurled and the top half of Miki's head poked out. There was just enough moonlight to see that her eyes were red. She sniffed and wiped her nose.

"I...no… I'm not." She pressed her eyelids shut. "I miss my mom and dad."

Kurumi chewed on her lip as she watched Miki cover her face with her hands and began to sniffle. She took a deep breath and crawled forward to lean against the wall, putting her arm around Miki and giving her a squeeze. "Yeah, I do too."


	11. Chapter 11

Miki woke up to find shadows flickering across her face. The sun was already high enough to shine down sharply through the RV's windows, occasionally being blocked by the buildings that lined the road. She rubbed her eyes, trying to understand why things were flickering, and realized that they were already on their way.

"Oh, you're up!" Yuki poked her grinning face in front of Miki's. "I was wondering how long you were going to be out!"

"Why didn't you wake me?" Miki asked with a yawn. "You always wake me up before we start driving."

"Kurumi said that didn't sleep well last night." Yuki held out her hands. "Do you want trail mix or a granola bar for breakfast?"

"So we don't have any more freeze-dried oatmeal?"

"Um… we probably do, but…" Yuki stuck her tongue out and grimaced.

"I'll take the trail mix." Miki took the bag and stumbled over to the table.

"You sleep okay?" Kurumi asked from the driver's seat.

"I wouldn't say I slept _well_ …" Miki rubbed her forehead. "But I think I'm okay for now." There was more emphasis on the last two words than she meant to have. She took a seat at the table and started picking the good bits out of the trail mix. "What are we doing today? Playing more of Yuki's game?"

Yuki shook her head. "I'm fixing some of the rules. Right now it's way too easy to get gold points, and it takes too long to reach the end of path 3."

"Obviously."

"We're making very good time today," Yuuri said as she sat down beside Miki. She began to unfold the map. "For whatever reason, this road here has been relatively clear. In fact, it's a relatively straight shot to our destination. Assuming it isn't blocked up completely anywhere, we could be there in a week, give or take a few days."

"Really." Miki swallowed. The idea of where they might be in a week… that they might possibly be… she refused to let her hopes get up too high.

Yuuri nodded. The lack of excitement on her face indicated that she felt the same way.

"What about the university?" Yuki asked. "Weren't we going to stop there?"

"It _is_ on the way." Yuuri pointed at the map again. "Depending on what's there, it might only add a day or so to the trip."

"And maybe we'll find someone who could come with us!" Yuki added.

The other three girls shared silent glances.

"What? Someone might want to come with us!"

"Why would someone want to come with us?" Kurumi blurted. The RV wobbled slightly as she clamped her hand to her mouth, but it was too late to take back the question.

Yuki thought for a moment and looked out the window, watching the buildings fly by with a blank look on her face. Yuuri and Miki glanced at each other, silently asking what to do. Neither one of them got an answer.

"Maybe… maybe they'd want to…" Yuki put her hand against the glass. "They might be lonely."

"Lonely," Miki repeated.

"Yeah." She turned away from the window to look at Miki. Her face seemed oddly downcast. "It's no fun being lonely."

Miki nodded. "I know."

Yuki smiled. "Want to help me figure out how to fix my game?"

"Sure. As soon as I finish my breakfast."

* * *

"So you really think she's getting over it?" Kurumi asked, keeping her voice low. Miki and Yuki were preoccupied by some sort of activity that had started with trying to fix the game, but had somehow resulted in the two of them drawing a large and very complicated-looking diagram.

"How else do you explain her answer to your question?" Yuuri answered.

"Maybe she just couldn't think of anything else that made sense."

"Maybe, but back at school, I don't think she would've even said something like that. And did you see the look she gave Miki?"

"No, I was driving, remember."

"Oh, right." Yuuri glanced back over her shoulder to make sure that Yuki was still occupied. "It was like Yuki knew what she had gone through. Like she recognized how lonely Miki had been before we found her, and that if anyone at the university is still alive they might be in a similar situation."

"I can't imagine that," Kurumi said, half to herself. "Even with you and Yuki with me, it's been… I don't know. Did I ever tell you what I found in the bunker under the school?"

Yuuri shook her head.

"In one of the storage closets… it turns out we weren't the only ones who survived and hid in the school. I'm not sure exactly who it was. Maybe one of the teachers, a janitor, one of the administrators… whoever it was, they must've thought that they were the only one who survived. I don't know how long he was there, or how long he lasted. But it wasn't _them_ who got him."

"You mean… he…"

"Yeah. When I first saw him, I thought he was a coward. He had food, medicine, a safe place to hide… all sorts of things that we wished that we had, and he still couldn't handle it. But now that I think about it, maybe it wasn't about that. Maybe he wasn't afraid. Maybe he was just lonely. Maybe he thought that everyone else was gone. That for the rest of his life, he'd never have anyone else to talk to, or to… to... I don't know if I'd have done any better if I hadn't had you. I still don't know how Miki managed to survive on her own for so long."

Yuuri smiled. "Maybe she was just too stubborn."

"I guess that's not always a bad thing," Kurumi said. "I couldn't imagine being alone in a time like this. The last time I was…" she absentmindedly scratched at the bandage on her shoulder. "I hope none of us have to be in that kind of situation again."

"I understand. The last time I was alone, I" -her mind flashed with the image of her trembling hands trying to maintain their grip on a knife- "...I never want it to happen again."

"Hey!" Yuki's voice echoed from the back of the cabin. "We don't have an twelve-sided dice, do we?"

* * *

The RV ground slowly to a halt and the engine cut out. Kurumi slumped back in the driver's seat and sighed, twirling the keys around her finger.

"Looks like as good a place as any to spend the night. We probably _could_ get a little further, but this spot is pretty much as good as we're gonna get. Or do you want to keep going?"

"No, I think we've gone far enough today" Yuuri answered as she consulted the map. "It looks like we should be able to reach the university tomorrow regardless. How much gas do we have left?"

"A little over half a tank. We should probably refill tomorrow, but it's not like we're about to run out or anything." Kurumi stood up and wobbled her way towards the back of the RV. "Ugh, my legs fell asleep. We should really switch drivers more often."

"Can I drive next time!" Yuki started bouncing in her seat. "I haven't gotten a turn yet!"

"We'll see," Yuuri answered. "Maybe if we find somewhere where there isn't anything to crash into."

Yuki snorted in frustration. "I'm not going to crash!"

"Everybody thinks that before they actually start driving," Miki said. "So have we stopped for the night?"

Kurumi nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I'm sick of driving anyway, and we're at a good spot." She stretched, and her back popped. "Ugh, I wish we could get out of here and stretch a little."

Miki glanced out the window. "Well, why don't we?"

* * *

Kurumi pulled her jacket closer around her collar, trying to keep the breeze off of her neck. She rubbed her hands together. They were cold. Then again, they had been cold for weeks. Maybe they were a little colder now, but she couldn't tell if that was because everything was colder now. She decided not to think about it.

Instead, she glanced over the edge of the overpass where they had stopped for the night. The road that passed beneath it was empty except for the abandoned cars that filled the city. She hated that. Partially because they were always in the way, but mostly because they had been a constant stream of reminders of everything that had gone wrong.

She turned away from the road and looked at the sky. It was the only thing that was still the same. Even though it wasn't quite dark yet, the thin sliver of the moon was still clearly visible hanging in the sky.

 _Why does everything familiar have to be so far away?_

"Feeling better?" Miki came up beside her, gazing into the sky.

"Not really," Kurumi kept her eyes fixed on the moon. "I thought maybe it would help get my mind off of everything, but all it does is make it even harder to forget how screwed up everything is. I just want to be able to get away from it. Just for a little." Her knuckles began to turn white as she gripped the edge of the railing at the edge of the overpass. "I'm just so _sick_ of… of… ugh!" She kicked the guardrail and then slumped against it, breathing deeply.

Miki took a step toward her, then stepped back. She chewed on her lip as she tried to decide whether to say something, or just go back to the RV. Neither option really seemed right, so she shuffled her feet in place, rubbing her hands together to keep them warm. Kurumi stood almost entirely still, except for the slight shift of her breathing.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Huh?"

"I said I'm sorry. I didn't mean…" She finally straightened up, still staring at the sky. "I shouldn't have…"

"It's okay." Miki stepped beside her. "I think we all feel that way."

"Maybe, but I shouldn't take it out on you. Especially not with everything that you're… you know. If _you're_ going through that, then-"

"It doesn't meant that _you_ aren't going through anything," Miki said. "Do you think that just because _I'm_ sad doesn't mean that you can't be sad too? You don't have to pretend that you're fine because of me. I know that you managed to get back to your house, and… You told me once that if I needed someone to talk to, I could come to you. And you should know that it goes both ways."

Kurumi hung her head. "I guess you're right. It just gets to you after a while, you know? I thought maybe the driving would help distract me, but that really didn't work. Every time I take a turn, I have to wonder what's going to be there. I wish I could get a break, but that's impossible. Yuuri drives sometimes, too, but still."

Miki thought for a moment. "If you want, I could take a turn driving. We were planning on doing that at some point, weren't we?"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't really think that you'd want to. Because, well…" Kurumi shrugged.

"I think I should be fine for a little while, especially if it'll help you out."

"Thanks. Tomorrow we can give it a try." She stood and stretched her arms out. "It really _does_ feel good to get out of that thing." She glanced up and down the highway. "Want to go for a walk? Not far, obviously. But just to stretch a little bit?" She lowered her voice. "And maybe… talk a little more?"

Miki smiled. "Sure."

* * *

"So then to decide how many spaces to move, you have to flip three coins."

Kurumi's eye twitched as she examined the game board, which seemed to have grown quite a bit since the last time she had played. In fact, it seems to be in the process of reproducing via mitosis.

"Which path is this on again?"

"The one with the star!" Yuki pointed at one of the paths, specifically one that snaked around the entire edge of the board, weaved in and out of the other paths, and looping out onto a second board that Yuki had taped to the first one.

"If you can only move three spaces at a time, it's going to take hours to get through the whole thing!" Kurumi dropped her head to the table and mumbled under her breath. "No wonder Miki wanted to drive."

"You can totally move more than three spaces!" Yuki playfully bonked Kurumi on the head. "See, each coin flip actually represents one digit of a binary number-"

"Since when do you even know what a binary number _is_?"

Yuki shrugged. "Because Yuuri taught me that. I figured if I have to know what that is I might as well use it for something."

Kurumi turned around to glare at Yuuri. "Why would you teach her _that_?"

"It was the in the book!"

Kurumi snorted. "How's Miki doing at the wheel?"

"All things considered, I think I'm doing okay." Miki answered. She giggled. "I haven't hit anything yet, at least."

"That's good."

"What about you?"

"I'm… doing fine," Kurumi answered. "Or at least I _was_ , until Yuki started trying put binary numbers into her game. As if it wasn't complicated enough already."

"What's wrong with binary numbers!?" Yuki sputtered indignantly.

"It's too complicated! I know you want to try out different types of stuff, but it's just too much. It's not that I haven't had fun playing it, but I think I'd enjoy it more if I actually knew what I was doing more than half the time."

"Hmmmmm." Yuki examined the convoluted mass of cardboard and scribbles on the table. "Maybe I should try splitting all of this into a bunch of different games."

"That would be a _great_ idea." Kurumi tried not to sound too enthusiastic. "I mean, your game is fun, but it's already pretty much like half a dozen games stuck together. I think that's probably why we had such a tough time understanding it."

"I didn't think it was that bad," Yuuri said.

"Well, of course you didn't. You already know how to count in binary or whatever."

"Maybe, but that's not why I- Oof!" The RV jerked to a sudden stop.

"Hey, what happened?" Kurumi asked. "Are you okay up there?"

"Um, we're fine," Miki answered. "Could you come up here for a minute?"

Kurumi looked down at the tangle of games that Yuki had produced. "You okay if I help them out for a second?"

"Sure!" Yuki said, not even looking up from whatever it was she was working on. "Miki probably needs help going around a corner or something."

Kurumi nodded and scrambled to the front of the RV. "What's up?"

"Well, there's good news and bad news," Yuuri said, keeping her voice low. "The good news is that we're getting close to the University and will probably be able to get there by tomorrow morning."

"And the bad news?"

Miki silently pointed out the window. In the distance, in the gap between the buildings, a dark smudge crept into the sky like a pillar. Kurumi bit her lip as she glanced at the map on Yuuri's lap. There was no doubt that she was looking towards their destination.

"That can't be good," she muttered.


	12. Chapter 12

"This looks like as good a place as any to stop for the night!" Miki announced.

"Aw, it's not even dark yet!" Yuki protested.

"It's not like we need to go to bed already," Yuuri said. "We'll get to the university tomorrow either way. We don't need to rush. Besides" -She turned around and grinned at Yuki- "I thought you wanted to test out the revised version of your game."

"Ooh! Right! I'll start getting it ready!"

"And here I thought I was done with that…" Kurumi groaned. "I'm going to go chill on a roof for a little while she gets things together. Anybody want to join me?"

Yuuri gave Miki a subtle nodded. Miki nodded back and followed Kurumi up the ladder. Kurumi slumped back against the pile of supplies. It made for a lumpy and uncomfortable seat. She glanced into the sky. The plumes of smoke she had seen yesterday were still billowing upwards to hang in the sky like angry clouds.

"So what do you think?" Miki asked.

"Well, it sure _looks_ like it's coming from the university. I hope it isn't, but I don't know what else it would be. It's the only place around where people would be holed up."

Miki gave her a quizzical look.

"Well, it must've gotten started somehow, you know? I mean, there's no way _those things_ could start a fire like that, and it didn't just randomly start burning all on its own. And if it had started when everything happened, it would've burned out a long time ago or got put out by rain or something."

"You're right," Miki said quietly. She sat next to Kurumi. "There must've been _somebody_ out that way."

"Or it could've just been a lightning strike or something."

"I guess it could be."

"I'm just trying not to get my hopes up too high, you know? We'll find out soon enough anyway."

"I know what you mean. There are so many things outside of our control, there's no point in dwelling on it. We just need to do what we can and let the rest take care of itself."

"Yeah." Kurumi was silent for a moment as she watched the smoke disappear into the clouds. "So how's _Moby Dick_ so far?"

"It's alright. It's a really heavy book."

"You're telling me. I had it in my backpack, remember?"

Miki giggled. "That's not what I meant. I mean it's just really hard to read. Lots of symbolism and stuff like that. And it moves really slowly. I'm a few dozen pages in and they still haven't gotten on the boat."

"Yeesh."

"It's not that bad. And some parts are actually kinda funny. It just takes a lot of effort to figure out. Honestly, I think it's probably a good thing. It really gives me something to occupy my mind, you know?"

Kurumi nodded. "Maybe I'll have to give it another shot then." She grinned. One of the clouds drifting across the rapidly darkening sky was vaguely whale-shaped. "Although I don't know about all this symbolism stuff."

"It's not that complicated. At least not on the surface. It's just about this guy's attempt to get vengeance on the universe for hurting him. Obviously, he can't really fight the universe, so he focuses on the whale."

"I thought you said they hadn't even gotten on the boat yet."

Miki shrugged. "I read the back cover."

Kurumi chuckled. "I should've known."

* * *

"This is it," Kurumi said. "We're sure we want to stop? This is our last chance to go right past and make right for the safe zone."

"I don't really _want_ to, but we should," Yuuri answered in a low voice. "There may be someone who needs our help. And who knows? Maybe we'll find more information about the safe zone or about everything that that's happened."

"Or maybe we'll find… something else," Miki said.

"Maybe," Kurumi admitted it. "But I think it might be worse not to know. Even if the place is completely overrun, at least we'll know. And we won't have to worry about what we _might_ have found."

"So we're decided, then?" Yuuri asked. "We're going?"

"Of course we're going!"

"Gah!" Kurumi jumped as Yuki poked her head over her shoulder. "Where did you come from!?"

"Back there!" Yuki gestured vaguely toward the back of the RV.

"How long have been there?" Miki asked.

"Long enough to hear you consider skipping out on visiting the university!" Yuki snorted unhappily. "I can't believe you were going to go past it after all our planning!"

"We weren't!" Kurumi protested. "I was just double-checking! And we decided that we were going to stop there, anyway."

"Good! I think we really need to stop there anyway." Yuki paused. "To see if they want to come with us."

"Well, if someone is going to come with us…" Yuuri winked at Kurumi "...we'd better clean up the RV to make sure we have room for them. And since you've been back there all morning…"

"Aw." Yuki groaned.

"We'll be there soon, so you'd better start cleaning up," Miki said. "Don't worry, I'll help you out with it." She got up, stretched, and headed towards the back of the RV.

Kurumi and Yuuri shared a glance, then looked back at Yuki. Kurumi shifted into drive. "Well," she said. "I guess that's settled. Let's see if there's anyone waiting for us."

* * *

Yuuri felt frozen. Even though the RV rumbled beneath her, it didn't feel like movement. As she stared out the window, the pillar of smoke grew larger and larger until it filled the sky like a storm cloud. It looked like it might fall and crush them all. The RV slowed down. Yuuri tore her eyes away from the windows to look at Kurumi. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the steering wheel. Yuuri wasn't sure if she had slowed down to make sure she could find her way, or if she felt the same sense of trepidation.

The larger and larger the smoke loomed, the more she wondered if they had made the wrong decision. Obviously _something_ had gone very wrong. And a university was just the type of place where people would congregate. Their trip had been fairly safe so far, but that luck couldn't possibly last forever, could it? But then again…

She looked back over her shoulder to where Miki and Yuki were trying to get things organized. Her thoughts went back to the mall. They had been insane to take that risk, however necessary it had seemed at the time. But if they hadn't, they never would've found Miki. And Miki would be… there was no way that could've turned out well. And if there _was_ someone at the university, they couldn't abandon them. Assuming, of course, that they could stay around long enough to find anyone.

They had already agreed that unless things were absolutely safe, the stop would be as quick as they could make it. Things were bound to be ugly, and they couldn't risk each other on the off chance that someone might be there. She had read it in a book once; something about dealing with dangerous situations. _Never increase the number of casualties_. If they could save someone, great, but she couldn't bear the thought of losing anyone. They would have to be careful, and they would have to be fast.

Although in the end, it didn't look like it would matter much. The closer they got to the university, the more and more it looked like there was no reason to stop. The more closely the buildings clustered together, the more desolate they seemed. The RV squealed to a halt at the gate. Yuuri watched in silence as Kurumi and Miki climbed out to push it open. She looked back over her shoulder to Yuki, who was still preoccupied with the scenery. Some of it had to be getting through to her. There was no way she could keep up her pretense that things were normal.

The gate groaned as Kurumi and Miki forced it open. A moment later the RV was moving again.

They found themselves entering a small courtyard, moving slower and slower, as if the dread they felt was pushing back at them.

"Now or never," Kurumi muttered as she shifted into park in front of what had once been a fountain, but was now a stagnant pool overgrown with algae.

She popped the door open and the girls filed out. The smell of smoke permeated the air so thickly that it was almost difficult to breathe. Underneath it, the sickly odor of the stagnant fountain gave it a slimy feel.

"Don't wander too far, okay?" she said, ostensibly for everybody but mainly for Yuki. "We don't want anyone to get lost."

"Or hurt!" Yuki responded, nodding in the direction that the smoke seemed to be coming from.

"Yes, or that," Yuuri said. She turned to Kurumi and nodded for her to follow. Miki understood and tapped Yuki on the shoulder. They exchanged a few words, and began to head away from the hazy buildings. "Do you think anyone is here?" she whispered.

"Doubt it," Kurumi answered. "I know _I_ wouldn't want to hang around here any longer than I have to."

"That's what I thought, too," Yuuri said. "But it does seem to be pretty obvious that somebody _was_ here."

"Yeah."

Neither one of them had to point it out, but one of the buildings had, at some point in the not-too-distant past, obviously served as someone's base of operations. The main entryway was barricaded from the inside; either someone was still inside or they had left by a different way. One of the second floor windows was open, and beneath it a bunch of trailers had been parked in a semicircle against the building, forming a sort of courtyard against it. The wall was stained black by the smoke rising out of the makeshift enclosure.

"Need a boost?" Yuuri asked.

"Nah, there's a ladder on this one." Kurumi began to climb.

"Be careful."

"Don't worry, I will." Kurumi reached the top of one of the trailers and peered carefully over the edge to the interior. Yuuri waited for her to say something.

"Well?"

"What the _hell_?"

"What is it?" Yuuri asked.

"I'm not sure." Kurumi walked carefully along the edge of the trailers, examining whatever it was that lay on the other side. Finally, she shook her head and began to climb back down.

"Well?"

"It was full of _those_ things." Kurumi wrinkled her nose in distaste. "There must've been like 20 of them. No idea how they managed to get them in there; I didn't see a doorway or gate or anything. None of them were really moving, though. Most of them were destroyed by the fire."

"So you think whoever was here decided to try to wipe them out before they left?"

Kurumi shrugged. "Could be, although I don't know why they would. There was no way those things could get out, and trying to light them up would be dangerous. I don't think it would be worth the trouble. I mean, there was…"

"What?"

"There was… something in there that was sort of separate from the others. Really charred and burned, more than the others. I think that was where the fire started."

"So they set one on fire before putting it in there?" Yuuri scratched her head. "That seems even _more_ dangerous."

"Like I said, I don't know. It could've been accidental. Maybe the fire started somewhere else and some burning branch or something fell in there. The important thing is that we know somebody was here, and that they figured out a way to deal with the situation."

Yuuri nodded. "And it looks like there were enough of them to be able to get all those trailers in place. I think you'd need at least a few people to be able to set that up."

"Maybe, but it doesn't tell us anything about why they decided to leave. I wish we could figure out whether they just left because they found out about the safe zone, or because they _had_ to."

"Hopefully because they chose to," Yuuri said. "If something forced them to leave, it might still be…"

She trailed off as she noticed Miki waving at her. As she turned to look, Miki began gesturing for them to come nearer.

"What is it?" Kurumi asked, keeping her voice low.

"See for yourself," Miki whispered. She led them around the side of one of the buildings. Behind the dorm was a parking lot, largely empty, but still scattered with cars. But more worryingly, scattered with even more slowly lumbering shapes. She pointed. At the far end of the parking lot was an open gate.

"There are so many of them," Kurumi muttered. "Why wouldn't they lock that gate to keep them from getting so close to the buildings?"

"They were," Miki answered. "Look closer at the gate. There's a chain on it."

Yuuri squinted. "You're right. But why wouldn't they keep it closed? The one in the back was closed, right?"

Kurumi nodded. "It wasn't locked, but it had a pretty solid latch on it. No way they could force their way through."

"So they must've all come through that gate then. And it can't have been too long ago, or they'd have made their way into the courtyard," Yuuri said.

"I guess they could've just forgotten to close it behind them. Or it got stuck. Or..." Kurumi paused for a moment, long enough for the other two girls to look at her.

"Or what?" Yuuri prompted.

"Well, look…" Miki pointed at the dark shapes near the gate. Some of them shuffled around on their feet, but a few were crawling laboriously along the ground. Others were completely still, flat on the pavement.

"We should get moving," Yuuri said. She turned to Miki. "Where's Yuki?"

"Oh, she's right over by the-"

"Hey!" Yuki poked her head into the group.

"Gah!" Kurumi jumped. "You've got to stop doing that!"

"I found something," Yuki whispered, her voice oddly calm. "I think you're going to want to see it." She took Kurumi by the wrist and gently tugged her toward the the entryway of the dorm.

Yuuri bit her lip at the thought of what Yuki might have discovered. Something didn't seem right. Yuki was too… calm? No, she'd been calm before. But now it felt like she was being _serious_ , that she knew she needed to reign in her eternal enthusiasm. And if she knew to do that, it meant that she must recognize the gravity of the situation, and if she realized _that_ …

"It looks like everyone is already gone," Yuki said, not quite sounding like herself. "But they could have done what we did, and left a note for anybody who showed up after. And then I thought about where I'd leave a note to make sure somebody would find it. So I checked the front door of the dormitory. And I found this."

She pointed to the door. It was glass, and taped to the inside was a poster-sized piece of paper covered in large block letters.

PERIMETER COMPROMISED

EVACUATED TO SAFE ZONE

LOCATION ON BACK OF NOTE

EXTRA SUPPLIES IN ENTRYWAY

BE CAREFUL

"Don't you know what this means!?" Yuki grinned. "It means that we're not the only ones who survived the zombies!" She turned back to the doors. "Now we just need to get in here so we can see what they left. It looks like they just wired the door shut so that we can… Um, can someone give me a hand here?"

She turned around to find the other three girls staring at her.

"Uh, are you guys okay?"

Miki opened her mouth, but it took a good minute for her to get any words out.

"W...what did you just say?"


End file.
